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Presented to the
library of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Ontario
Legislative
Library
NO MAN'S LAND
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,
C. F. CLAY, Manager.
JLon&on: FETTER LANE, E.C.
©lasgoto: 50, WELLINGTON STREET.
ILrtpjig: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
ijieto iork: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Bumbag anto Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
[All Rights reserved.]
Two Spitsbergen Whalers, from a coloured print in Blaeu's Atlas Major.
.3 ;-■,.■ .'■• "■' .1
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NO MAN'S LAND
/
St***,,
3?W*M*
A HISTORY OF SPITSBERGEN FROM ITS DISCOVERY
IN 1596 TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SCIENTIFIC
EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY
\fc
BY
SIR MARTIN CONWAY
>~ lIBRA Sve no,.
CAMBRIDGE :
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1906
Cambridge :
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO
SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, K.C.B.
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 1893-1905
WHOSE SUGGESTION INSPIRED AND WHOSE
ENCOURAGEMENT HELPED THE JOURNEYS
AND RESEARCHES UPON WHICH
IT IS BASED.
PREFACE.
THE proper function of a modern preface, it has been
said, is to save reviewers trouble. In the case of a
volume containing some history of a country which never
had any inhabitants, constructed out of scattered references
in state papers and the miscellaneous records of industrial
voyages, a preface of that kind may also be helpful to a
reader, who either lacks the time or the inclination to make
close acquaintance with the whole book.
Let me then first appeal to reviewers and all readers
alike henceforward to spell the name of the country
correctly. Spitsbergen is the only correct spelling ; Spitz-
bergen is a relatively modern blunder. The name is Dutch,
not German. The second ' s ' asserts and commemorates
the nationality of the discoverer.
In publishing this volume I am at length fulfilling a
pledge given nine years ago in the book describing my
first Spitsbergen journey of 1896. The preliminary studies
made for that and for my second journey in the far North
provided me with a considerable amount of unpublished
materials for Arctic History which it seemed proper to
bring together in a form convenient for reference. The
story of Spitsbergen exploration, like any other matter into
which a student is led to make research, presently began to
viii Preface
prove attractive, so that I was led on to treat as matter
for serious historical investigation what was begun as
the by-play of an explorer's preparatory studies.
It would have been easy to fashion the materials,
here brought together, into a popular narrative of adven-
ture. If the negotiations and the geographical questions
had been omitted and the romantic elements of the story
had been set in the weird and wonderful landscapes of
the country, the general reader might have found the
resulting volume more entertaining than the one now in his
hands. But it occurred to me that by putting on record
all the materials I have been able to gather together, I
should rather facilitate than prevent the production of such
a book. It even seems possible that some of our modern
adventure-loving novelists may here find the materials
for a pleasant romance. The scene of it might be placed
in Smeerenburg in its great days, when women also spent
their summers in that Arctic settlement in the pursuit of
their avocations. Not impossibly, amongst the whalers
who frequented Smeerenburg, there were some who had
been on Barents' vessel of discovery. Thus a tale might
be contrived, in which all the most romantic events could
be strung together, from the days of the discovery down
to those of Van der Brugge's dramatic wintering, including
the fights and rivalries between English, Dutch, and French,
as well as the disputes between the Londoners and the men
of Hull.
Failing the appearance of such a book, the general reader
will find that, if he scans the narrative portions of the first
ten or twelve chapters, and then turns to those dealing with
the doings and sufferings of the Russian Trappers, his
Preface ix
thirst for tales of adventure will obtain some satisfaction.
Pellham's account of the first English wintering in Spits-
bergen may be commended as an admirable piece of
literature, worthy of the times of Milton.
Students of local history at Hull, Yarmouth, Bristol,
York, and Whitby will find in my pages some matters
that may be of interest to them. Hull in particular is
closely connected with the early history of Spitsbergen
exploration. The name of Thomas Marmaduke, a really
great Arctic navigator, deserves to be remembered there
with honour.
Most of the more strictly historical parts of this book
have been published from time to time in papers contri-
buted to the Geographical Journal. They are reprinted
here with the additions and corrections suggested by
further research. I have to thank the Council of the
Royal Geographical Society for permitting the use of the
blocks for illustrations, especially for those reproducing rare
old maps which they had photographed for me, as well as
for contributing the type-setting of all the pages in small
print at the end of the volume which were at one time
intended to be published by the Society as an extra
publication.
During the nine years over which my researches
have been scattered, I have been enabled at different times
to pursue them in Paris, Amsterdam, the Hague, Zaan-
land, and elsewhere. The London Record Office was
searched as carefully as my little leisure permitted, and
many new facts were yielded by that exhaustless store-
house. To those who aided me in my work I owe hearty
thanks. Monsieur Charles Rabot in Paris again evinced
x Preface
the ready helpfulness he has so often shown before. At
Amsterdam I was beholden to Jhr. B. W. F. van Riemsdijk,
Director of the Rijks Museum, who put me on the track
of several valuable pieces of information. At Zaandijk,
Mr G. J. Honig, himself a descendant of Arctic navigators
of the 1 7th century, also gave me valuable assistance, and
I owe to him three of the most important illustrations in
this book. To Dr Nathorst and Baron Gerard De Geer
of Stockholm I am also indebted, as well as to the late
Baron Nordenskiold. My obligations to Sir Clements
R. Markham are recorded on the dedicatory page above.
Mr James Lamont has earned my gratitude by permitting
me to reproduce two illustrations from his most interesting
book Yachting in the Arctic Seas (London, 1876), whilst
I am under deep obligation to Captain A. Mostyn Field,
R.N., F.R.S., Hydrographer to the Admiralty, for allowing
me the use of a transfer from the Admiralty chart and
permission to make necessary changes in the naming of
various points, as explained in the concluding pages of
this volume. Finally, I have for the third time to thank
the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for
giving publicity to my work.
MARTIN CONWAY.
Hornton House, Kensington,
March, 1906.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. Introductory
II. How Spitsbergen was discovered
III. Walrus hunting and tentative expeditions
IV. The first hunting expedition to Spitsbergen .
V. The beginning of the Spitsbergen whale-fishery
VI. The troubles in 1 613
VII. The events of 1614 .
VIII. The method of the Bay fishery
IX. Troubles with the Dutch in 1617
X. Troubles at Spitsbergen in 1618
XI. Progress of the whaling industry at Spitsbergen
XII. The final settlement of the Spitsbergen fishery
XIII. The first wintering in Spitsbergen .
XIV. The culmination of the Bay fishery .
XV. Smeerenburg's culmination ....
XVI. The decline of English whaling
XVII. Whalers' adventures
XVIII. Incidents of war and other events in Spitsbergen
XIX. Russian trappers in Spitsbergen
XX. Tschitschagof's expeditions ....
XXI. National expeditions to Spitsbergen
List of the principal voyages to Spitsbergen recorded from 1847 to 1900
Bibliography of the history and geography of Spitsbergen
The cartography of Spitsbergen
Chronological list of maps of Spitsbergen
History of Spitsbergen nomenclature before the nineteenth century .
Index ........•••••
waters
PAGE
1
1 1
20
38
5i
65
82
94
106
124
135
146
165
182
191
203
215
233
263
277
301
305
328
342
347
369
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Two Spitsbergen Whalers, from a coloured print in Blaeu's
Atlas Major .........
View from the Zeeusche Uytkyk, from Lamont's 'Yachting
Frontispiece
in the Arctic Seas :
. to face page 76
Ice-cliff at the end of a glacier in Recherche Bay, from a
photograph by Mr C. T. Dent
The Groenlandsche-Pakhuizen in the Keizersgracht, Amsterdam,
from a print after a drawing by Wencke, published by
' Het Zondagsblad van het Nieuus van den Dag,'
no. 1905
The Cookeries at Oostzanen, from a panel-painting by A. Van
Salm in the Zaanland Museum at Zaandijk .
Old Kees' Glissade, from P.P.v.S
Whale-fishing, by Lieven Verschuyr. Rotterdam Museum of
Antiquities .........
The English Whale-fishery in Bell Sound, from contemporary
drawings to illustrate Mr Gray's description
The Man under the Bear, from a painting by Tetroe in the
Zaanland Museum at Zaandijk .....
A Whaler in the ice-pack, from a painting by Abraham Hondius
in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge ....
The Russian Huts in Keilhau Bay, from Lamont's 'Yachting
in the Arctic Seas '
125
168
188
200
20'
204
J09
225
MAPS.
Spitsbergen as seen by Barents and Hudson .
Spitsbergen from Barents' chart (1598) ....
Spitsbergen from Hondius' chart (161 1) ....
John Daniel's chart of Spitsbergen (1612)
MS. map of Spitsbergen made in 1614, and signed 'Joris
Carolus Stierman Caertschryver tot Enkhuizen ' .
Vrolicq's map of 1634
Chart of Spitsbergen, from Joris Carolus' ' Nieuw Vermeerde
Licht' of 1634
The Muscovy Company's map of Spitsbergen (1625)
Doncker's map of Mauritius Bay (1655) .
Blaeu's map of Spitsbergen, mainly after Edge (c. 1662)
Paskaert van Spitsbergen met Alle zijn Zeecusten zoo vel tot
noch toe Bekent is, bij Hendrick Doncker (1663) .
Admiralty Chart .
Nieuwe afteekening van het Eyland Spits-Bergen .
to face page 14
page
328
329
33°
331
332
O "? ■*»
335
336
337
339
in the cover
NO MAN'S LAND.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
In the following chapters I propose to relate the story
of the succession of events recorded to have happened in
and on the coasts of Spitsbergen since its discovery in 1596.
They will be found more numerous, more varied, and often
more dramatic than the reader may be prepared to expect.
Spitsbergen has never been an inhabited country, and there-
fore, in a sense, can have no true history of its own, but
for a portion of every year since early in the 17th century
it has been the scene of various industries, which have
attracted in their turn to its inhospitable though beautiful
shores innumerable visitors. It is their fortunes, purposes,
and adventures that are to be considered. They were of
many nations and came up for many reasons. It will not
be possible entirely to exclude from notice the home cir-
cumstances that led them to set forth, nor the international
rivalries and collisions that resulted from their activity ;
but the endeavour will be made to reduce these extraneous
matters to a minimum and to confine attention as closely
as may be to what actually took place in and about
Spitsbergen itself.
It is almost impossible to believe that, before 1596,
no human being ever set eyes on Spitsbergen. Such
bold navigators as discovered Iceland and Greenland are
not unlikely to have ventured northward; if they did
so venture and came to the Arctic archipelago, some 300
miles north of the North Cape, they must have perceived
that the character of the land was such as to be entirely
c. CH. 1. 1
2 The OtJier IVorld
valueless to them, and they doubtless brought home such
an account of it as would be merged swiftly in myth and
fable. Our remote forefathers regarded the universe as
consisting of the world in which men lived and the Other
World, the abode of superhuman beings. The edge of
habitable country was the border of this Other World,
whereof all manner of strange tales were told and partly
believed. Ranges of snowy mountains, for instance, were,
and to backward mountain peoples still are, the dwelling-
place of fairies, demons, ghosts, and what-not. Devils
have only recently been driven from the Matterhorn ;
perhaps some still linger there. In the Hindu Kush all
manner of strange fairies still abide above the snow-line.
Similar traditions are found all over the globe. The Other
World stands very near to them in the minds of simple folk
and is a very material place.
The Northern Ocean and whatever lands there might be
within it belonged to this Other World, which some people
thought of as the home of the dead. It was an ocean,
sluggish, stagnant, and hard for rowers to move, which
even the winds could not raise, and where the light of the
setting sun lingers on till dawn, quenching the light of the
stars ; and the sound of the sun's rising could be heard,
and the forms of the horses that drew his chariot and the
glory about his head could be seen. " Only thus far," says
Tacitus, "does the world extend." Homer, too, sang of
the isle Aeaean, " where is the dwelling-place of Dawn and
her dancing-grounds, and the land of sun-rising " ; and he
told of the land of the Cimmerians "shrouded in fog and
cloud, where the shining sun never looks down with his rays,
neither when he climbs the starry heaven nor when he
returns earthward from on high, but deadly night is spread
over wretched men."
Like myths were sung by the Norsemen in early Sagas,
not without increase of detail as the centuries advanced.
Some believed there were lands in the far north joining
Siberia to Greenland by unbroken country. Two brothers
of the Venetian family of the Zeni were said to have made,
in 1387, a voyage to Iceland and Greenland. They pre-
tended to have brought home with them a remarkable
chart, which is believed to represent the knowledge of
Spitsbergen Legends 3
those regions attained by Scandinavian travellers 1 . On this
chart Engroneland stretches very far to the east, and this
was why both Barents and Hudson, not knowing that
Spitsbergen was an island, believed it to be a part of
Greenland, and perhaps also connected with Novaja Zemlja.
In Gerardus Mercator's map of 1538 " Groelandia " is
represented as a peninsula depending from a polar con-
tinent, continuous with Asia, but later on this land area
was cut up by narrow sounds or rivers. Thus, on Mercator's
later maps, four great streams start from an imaginary
Rtipes nigra et altissima at the pole and flow to the four
points of the compass, dividing the polar land into quarters.
According to the legend on the map, the quarter north of
Scandinavia was inhabited by " Pygmies, people with long
feet, and Screlingers."
The Russian trappers who visited Spitsbergen in the
1 8th and 19th centuries preserved a number of legends
whereof but few have been written down. It was their
custom on arrival at the south coast, near a rocky cliff
(probably on Edge Island) said to present a striking-
resemblance to a man's profile, to land on the shore and
kill a male reindeer, whose body they cast on to this strange
cliff. This was the story they used to tell in explanation of
their act.
" There once lived a Norwegian prince who, weary of
governing and of honours, betook himself to dark Spits-
bergen, so as to occupy himself there, in solitude, with
magic and the black arts. He took with him, on his ship,
a hundred pair of reindeer, and a beautiful maiden of
15 years whom he thought to wed. The Spirit of the
Mountain, whom the trappers named ' The Spitsbergen
Dog,' tracked down with his dog's nose the beautiful
maiden in the rock-palace of the prince, and determined
to carry her off. He knew that she walked out in the
evening with her lover, to collect various mosses and herbs,
which, doubtless, the latter used in his magical experiments.
He also knew the prince to be a skilful magician, who
would not allow him to carry off the maiden before his very
eyes. So this Spitsbergen dog resorted to cunning. He
1 The chart and the account of the journey were published at Venice in 1558,
and attracted great attention.
CH. 1. 1 — 2
4 Spitsbergen Legends
transformed himself into a white bear, and lay on an ice
floe, awaiting the hour when the maiden should come down
to the seashore to search for mussels and stones. He did
not have to lie in wait long for his prey. The unsuspecting
maiden descended the mountain which led to the sea, and
the bear seized her, and carried her, unharmed, to one of
the most distant caves of the island.
" The Norwegian prince, filled with wrath at the loss
of the only living thing that was dear to him, and despairing
of finding his beloved one by natural means, consulted his
books of magic, and summoned to his aid obedient spirits,
to reveal to him the prison-house of the unfortunate maiden.
But all that he could learn was, that the maiden was shut
up in a mountain on the south coast of the island, the out-
line of which was like the profile of a man. But the
south coast was extensive — where should he find such a
mountain ?
" The inconsolable prince wandered about under the
rocky cliffs, and filled the island with his lamentations.
One summer's evening, as the snow-covered summits of
the mountains were illumined by the rays of the setting sun 1 ,
he espied, in a cleft of the rocks, a human figure. He
hurried quickly forward, believing that he should soon
discover the place of flight of his lost one, and had only
to stretch out his hand to her, when suddenly she jumped
like a chamois on to the southern projection of the cliff.
He followed, but she fled before him, until at last she
halted on one of the mountains. The prince rushed after
her, and wanted to seize her, when before him, instead of
the maiden, there stood a male reindeer, which looked at
him, and beat his horns against the rocks. The prince
magician understood matters now. He looked up to the
summit of the mountain, and recognised plainly upon it
the form of a man's profile. He stood long at the foot
of the mountain, sighing, until a stone from the rocks fell,
and crushed him to death. Since that time, the trappers
have called this rock ' the hatless lout's head,' but out of
gratitude for the reindeer which the prince had brought to
the island, they kill, every time they set foot in Spitsbergen,
1 This shows that the legend must have arisen south of the Arctic Circle.
JVays to the Indies 5
a male of these animals, as an expiatory sacrifice, as it were,
with which to propitiate the Spitsbergen dog, and restrain
him from malicious tricks."
Another legend was told by the Russian trappers to
account for the presence of reindeer in Spitsbergen.
" Long ago, the son of a Norwegian king, wishing to
become possessed of the island, sent thither several ships,
whose crews were to colonise this extensive, but wild and
unpeopled, land. On these ships, the first reindeer were
brought to Spitsbergen. The colonists perished one after
the other, being unable to resist the tendency to sleep
which scurvy infallibly occasions. Only eight men survived,
and these made superhuman efforts to return home, and
landed at Tromsoe, where they made known to their prince
the failure of their undertaking. From that time, no one
has attempted to settle in Spitsbergen."
If there had been an efficient quartermaster-general
for the fourth Crusade perhaps Spitsbergen would not have
been discovered in 1596. Owing to inefficient organisation
that crusading force came under the control of Venice
and was by her directed against Constantinople instead of
the Saracens. A fatal blow was thus dealt, not to the
Crescent but to Europe's chief bulwark against Islam. The
Eastern Empire was undermined and its overthrow by the
Turks two centuries later was the direct result. The
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople split asunder the
ancient trade-routes between east and west, and led to
the era of exploration. New ways to the Indies had to be
found. Vasco da Gama's discovery of the route round the
Cape was the solution of the problem set by the fall of
Constantinople.
But the Portuguese had no intention of sharing with the
whole western world the potentiality of wealth which they
thus obtained. They made a monopoly of their oriental
trade and closed it for a time against all competitors.
Only by trading with Portugal could foreigners trade with
the east. Hence arose in other and especially in northern
countries the stronq- desire to find some alternative route to
India and Cathay.
In 1497 the Cabots, sailing from England in search of
a sea-route westward to China, blundered up against and
CH. I.
6 Willoughby s Expedition
thus discovered the North American continent. Next year
Sebastian Cabot sailed again, not to explore the obstructive
land but to find a way past it to the north. His example
was frequently followed during the 16th century, so that
the north-west passage became famous as a goal of dis-
covery. After many years spent in the service of Spain,.
Sebastian Cabot in 1548 again entered English employ.
Up to that time the commerce of England had been
controlled by the Hanseatic League, whose policy it was
to prevent any direct trade between Europe and the north,
save that which came through the recognised markets. It
was owing to this prohibition, which they were able to
enforce, that so little was known in the rest of the world
about Scandinavian discoveries in the northern seas. It
was Sebastian Cabot who incited the merchants of London
to shake off this Hanseatic bondage and to push forward
boldly for a share in the growing commerce of the world.
The north-west passage had not been discovered ; he now
suggested that an effort should be made to find a way by
the north-east, above Norway and Asia, to China.
At Cabot's instigation the Company of Merchant
Adventurers was founded and, in 1553, three ships, under
the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard
Chancellor, were sent forth by them to search for the
north-east passage. Willoughby discovered Novaja Zemlja
and attempted to winter in Lapland but perished together
with the crews of two of the ships. Chancellor, more for-
tunate, found the White Sea and penetrated to somewhere
near the mouth of the Dwina, whence he travelled overland
to Moscow, obtained from the Tsar a grant of trading
privileges for his Company, and returned to England. The
north-east passage was not revealed, but the result of
this journey was to inaugurate trade between England and
the White Sea, which proved very profitable to London
merchants.
The instructions to Willoughby and Chancellor, drawn
up by Sebastian Cabot, contain the following important
passage 1 :
" Item, that the marchants and other skilful persons in writing shall daily
write, describe, and put in memoire the navigation of every day and night, with
1 Hakluyt I. p. 226.
The Muscovy Company 7
the points and observations of the lands, tides, elements, altitude of the sunne,
course of the moon and starres, and the same so noted by the order of the
master and pilot of every ship to be put in writing, the captains general!
assembling the masters together once every week (if winde and weather shall
serve) to conferse all the observations and notes of the said ships, to the intent
it may appear wherein the notes do agree, and wherein they dissent, and upon
good debatement, deliberation, and conclusion determined, to put the same into
a common ledger, to remain as record for the company."
This was the origin of the log-book which thenceforward
became customary amongst English and Dutch navigators.
The log-books of navigators from the time of Willoughby
are our authorities for the history of discovery. Patriots
such as Hakluyt and Purchas made it their business to
obtain as many of these records as they could and to print
them for the public benefit. Hakluyt's work, says Sir
Clements Markham, "gave a stimulus to colonial and to
maritime enterprise, and it inspired our literature. Shake-
speare owed much to Hakluyt's Principal Navigations :
Milton owed much more 1 ."
In 1555 the "Merchant Adventurers" obtained a
charter of incorporation and in 1566 an Act of Parliament,
in which they are styled " the Fellowship of English
Merchants for the Discovery of New Trades," but they
are better known as the Muscovy or Russia Company,
under which title we shall presently hear a good deal about
them. In 1556 they sent Stephen Burrough, who had
been master of Chancellor's ship, to search again for the
north-east passage. He forced his way into the Kara
Sea, found it full of ice, and returned. Attempts to
establish an overland trade-route from North Russia to
China having failed, the Pet and Jackman Expedition was
sent out in 1580. It was equally unsuccessful in crossing
the Kara Sea, but it appears that in 1584 another vessel sent
by the Russia Company actually sailed to the mouth of the
Obi, where she was shipwrecked and her crew were
murdered by the Samo-yeds.
The Muscovy Company's trade with St Nicholas and
the White Sea prospered and gave employment to ten or
twelve ships yearly 2 .
1 Address on the Jubilee of the Hakluyt Society, Geog. Journal, Feb. 1897,
p. 172.
2 See Hamel, Tradesca?it der Aeltere, 161 8, in Russland (St Petersburg
Academy, Rec. des Actes, 1847, p. 85).
CH. I.
8 Trade with Russia
In a letter of 20th November, 1595, Francis Cherry,
writing to Sir Robert Cecil, whose father was a member of
the original Company before its reconstitution, speaks of
himself as " having been brought up a long time in Russia,
chiefly in the Emperor's Court, and by experience learned
the depth of the trade." He goes on to mention the chief
goods imported, to wit "tallow, wax, flax, train-oil, buff-
hides, cowhides, cordage, and hemp." He lays special
emphasis on the cordage, a trade which he has greatly
developed, very important to the Queen's navy. " The
most adventure is borne by himself and other young men,
who do hazard largely, and in a manner depend and lay
thereon all our substance 1 ."
Next year we find Cherry and the Muscovy Merchants
petitioning the Queen for ,£9,254. 8s. od. payment due
to them for cordage (cables, cabletts, and cable yarn)
imported by them from Russia and taken for the Navy.
They refer to cordage similarly supplied the previous year
and " cordage bespoken next year 2 ." Two more letters press
for this money. Another of 8th May, 1597, proposes to
import 3,000 quarters of wheat which have been contracted
for with the Emperor of Russia. In November Cherry
demands payment of ,£13,922. 155-. 2d. for the former and
another lot of cordage, payment for which is 22 months
overdue! He says that he has orders for Russian cordage
from the King of Spain and the Earl of Nottingham.
" Before I took upon me the trade to Russia," he writes
(5th December, 1597), "there never came above ,£2,000
worth of cordage a year, and now for ,£14,000 or
,£15,000 yearly, and not the like cordage in Europe to
be had."
A trade that could stand such dilatory payments must
have been very profitable. In the earliest years of the
Company, rivals were stimulated to interlope into the
monopoly. English interlopers from the north country
were the first, for in those days the Government was always
liable to give advantages to London men, before the folks'
of Hull or Yarmouth had a chance. Then the Dutch put
in their oar. They began to interlope in 1565, when an
1 Historical MSS., Calendar of the Hatfield House MSS. pt. v. p. 462.
2 Hatfield MSS. VI. p. 511 et seq.
Dutch Enterprise 9
Enkhuizen ship founded a rival trading station at Kola on
the White Sea. Dutch activity in the north was doubtless
quickened by the King of Spain's prohibition (in 1584) of
trade between the Netherlands and Portugal. At this
time, in fact, the foundation was laid of that maritime
rivalry between Dutch and English, which endured for two
centuries and whose first ill-tempered manifestation occurred
in the waters of Spitsbergen.
Throughout the Middle Ages, and especially in the
fifteenth century, Flanders and its neighbourhood had been
the head-quarters of North European commerce and manu-
facture. The weavers of Bruges and Ghent were masters
of the magic which transmuted the contents of the English
Woolsack into Golden Fleeces. The land trade-route
from Venice led to Antwerp, where met the two streams
of commerce from north and south. Thus population and
civilization waxed in this favoured region. The religious
troubles of the sixteenth century ruined Flemish trade.
The Spanish Fury destroyed Antwerp. All the best and
most active merchants and craftsmen emigrated into
Holland, and created there such pressure of energy that
new outlets for it had to be found. Among the emigrants
was Balthasar Moucheron, who settled at Middelburg in
Zealand, and is almost to be regarded as the father of
Dutch commerce. His ships were the first North Cape
interlopers. He was chief supporter of Barents' three
famous expeditions, which Gerrit De Veer described.
Oliver Brunei, a native of Brussels, was another reli-
gious refugee. He was the first to make, on behalf of
Holland, personal investigations on the spot into the
conditions and requirements of the Russian trade. The
Dutch trading establishment was in consequence moved to
a harbour in the neighbourhood of St Michael's monastery,
and the town of Archangel was founded and rapidly
increased, so that the English were obliged to move their
quarters to the same place.
Now the Dutch in their turn desired to find the north-
east passage. In 1584 Moucheron sent Brunei on the quest,
but he failed to enter the Kara Sea and his ship was
wrecked. In 1594 a more important expedition was set
forth by Moucheron's initiative. It consisted of three
ch. 1.
io Barents Voyages
ships and a fishing-boat, whereof one, the Mercury, was
owned in Amsterdam and was commanded by William
Barents. Another, belonging to Enkhuizen, and likewise
named the Mercury, carried, as supercargo, the writer
Van Linschoten. The Amsterdam ship was intended to
sail round the north of Novaja Zemlja, the others were
to sail south. By good luck Barents easily reached
Cape Nassau, but was unable to advance beyond the
Orange Islands, near the extreme north point of Novaja
Zemlja. This is the first voyage described in the book
of Gerrit De Veer. Linschoten wrote a separate account 1 .
In the following year, 1595, a fleet of seven well-
equipped vessels was sent out by the same adventurers,
with others joined to them, which, it was hoped, would
reach China and establish a trade with that country. Of
this fleet Barents was chief pilot, whilst Linschoten and
another went as chief commissioners on behalf of the Dutch
government. The vessels reached Novaja Zemlja, but
the Kara Sea was so full of ice that they could not cross it,
so they eventually returned to Holland.
It appears that on every ship a detailed journal was
kept "separately and without communication with the
others." Linschoten's account was published with that
of the previous expedition. A separate account by Gerrit
De Veer forms the second part of his well-known book.
The failure of this enterprise sufficed to prevent the
Government from assisting to set forth any expedition
in 1596. But the geographer Plantius and Barents still
maintained that a way to the east might be found round
the north of Novaja Zemlja. The confidence was in-
fectious. Merchants came forward with funds yet once
more, and the famous expedition of Barents, Heemskerk,
and Rijp was sent out, which discovered Spitsbergen and
wintered for the first time on record in any very high
latitude.
1 Voyagie ofte Schipvaert van Ian Hvyghen van Linschoten van by Noorden
om langes A r oorwegen, de Noortcaep etc.... tot voorby de Revier Oby
Anno 1594 ende 1595. Ghedruct tot Franeker by Gerard Ketel, 1601. Fol. It
was reprinted at Amsterdam in 1624, not to mention translations, later editions,
abstracts, etc.
CHAPTER II.
HOW SPITSBERGEN WAS DISCOVERED.
On the 18th of May, 1596, two Dutch ships sailed from
Vlieland near Amsterdam on a voyage destined to be
famous in the annals of adventure and discovery 1 . In one ship
Willem Barendszoon 2 was chief pilot; the captain was Jacob
Heemskerke Hendickszoon, proudly described on his monu-
ment as "the man who ever steered his way through ice
and iron." In the other, Jan Corneliszoon Rijp of Enk-
huizen was captain and supercargo, Arend Martenszoon of
Amsterdam pilot. The chief honour of the voyage has
always been given to Barents, but Heemskerk should
not be forgotten, for he was a great sailor. He led the
Dutch fleet to victory at the Battle of Gibraltar in 1607,
where he met his death. His monument stands by one of
the central pillars of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. On
the 9th of June the two ships made Bear Island, and the
following day eight men landed from each ship, Barents
and Rijp being of the number. Next day again "going on
land, wee found great store of sea-mewes egges upon the
shoare, and in that island wee were in great danger of our
lives : for that going up a great hill of snowe, when wee
should come down againe, we thought wee should all have
broken our neckes, it was so steep but wee sate upon the
snowe [ons naers) and slidde downe, which was very
1 The authorities for this voyage are an extract from Barents' own log,
printed in Hessel Gerrits' Histoire chi pays nomme Spitsberghe, translated in the
Hakluyt Society's Three Voyages of W. Barents (1867), p. xvii., and De Veer's
Journal of t ie voyage, translated in the same book, p. 70 ; see also De Jonge's
Opkomst, et~. 1. pp. 23-26, and S. Muller's Geschiedenis der Noordsche Com-
pagnie, p. 43 note. The course of the ships is marked on Barents' own chart,
which was engraved in 1598.
2 The nan, t is usually written Barents in English books.
CH. 11.
12 Bear Island [June
dangerous for us to breake both our armes and legges,
for that at the foote of the hill there was many rockes,
which wee were likely to have fallen upon, yet by Gods
help wee got safely down againe. Meane time Willem
Barendsz sate in the boate, and sawe us slide downe, and
was in greater feare than wee to behold us in that
danger...
"The 1 2th of June in the morning, wee saw a white
beare, which wee rowed after with our boate, thinking to
cast a roape about her necke ; but when we were neare her,
shee was so great that wee durst not doe it, but rowed
backe again to our shippe to fetch more men and our
armes, and so made to her againe with muskets, hargu-
bushes, halbertes, and hatchets, John Cornellysons men
comming also with their boate to helpe us. And so being
well furnished of men and weapons, wee rowed with both
our boates unto the beare, and fought with her while foure
glasses were runne out (two hours), for our weapons could
doe her little hurt ; and amongst the rest of the blowes
that we gave her, one of our men stroke her into the backe
with an axe, which stucke fast in her backe, and yet she
swomme away with it ; but wee rowed after her, and at
last wee cut her head in sunder with an axe, wherewith she
dyed ; and then we brought her into John Cornelysons
shippe, where wee fleaed her, and found her skinne to be
twelve foote long : which done, wee eate some of her flesh ;
but wee brookt it not well. This island wee called the
Beare Island."
They sailed from Bear Island on the 1 3th in a northerly
direction. At noon on the 14th they fancied they could
see land to the north but were not certain. At noon next
day they were in lat. J&° 15' N. ; that is to say, off the
mouth of Ice Sound but probably some way out to sea.
On the 16th they met the ice-pack north of Spitsbergen
and sailed along it eastwards for 44 miles (N.E. and S.E.).
At noon on June 17th, in lat. 8o° ic/ steering S.S.W.
they came in sight of land which was visible for about
32 to 36 miles trending almost from west to ee.st. "It
was high land and entirely covered with snow." Undoubt-
edly the north coast of Spitsbergen between Hakluyt's
Headland and the mouth of Liefde Bay was what they
1596] Spitsbergen discovered 13
saw and this was the memorable day of the island's dis-
covery, though De Veer makes the 19th the date of this
event. On the iSth they were in lat. 8o° N. They sailed
through ice westwards alonsf the land till noon on the 20th.
On the 19th they were in lat. 79° 49' according to De
Veer. At noon on the 20th the western point of the land
lay S.S.W. 20 miles distant. They sailed towards it and
''came close to a large bay (Red Bay) which extended into
the land towards the south." They made another attempt
to get away to the north-west but were driven back by the
ice and so, late on the 21st, both ships came to anchor at
the mouth of Fair Haven. "At the east point of the
mouth," says Barents, "was a rock, which was moreover
split, a very good landmark" ; he obviously refers to Cloven
Cliff. " There was also a small island or rock, about \\
(? miles) from that eastern one. On the west point also,
was a rock, very near." It would therefore appear that he
anchored between Cloven Cliff and Vogelsang. Here, or
hereabouts, in lat. 79° 5c/ Barents set up a post with the
arms of the Dutch upon it. The post remained standing-
till 161 2 when the English carried it away 1 .
Next day they "took in ballast of 7 boatsful of stones,
thus much because our ship was little ballasted." A great
fight with a bear followed and then they explored Fair
Haven with a boat and found the Norway Islands and
several good anchorages. On one island, where they landed,
they " found many red geese-egges, which we saw sitting
upon their nests, and drave them from them, and they flying
away cryed ' red, red, red ' : and as they sate we killed
one goose dead with a stone, which we drest and eate, and
at least 60 egges, that we tooke with us aboard the shippe
These were Rotgansen (Bernacle Geese), such as come into
Holland about Weiringen (near the Texel), and every
yeere are there taken in abundance, but till this time it was
never knowne where they hatched their egges ; so that
some men have taken upon them to write that they grow
upon trees in Scotland that hang over the water, and such
egges as fall from them downe into the water become yong
geese and swimme away ; but those that fall upon the land
1 The fact is mentioned in a resolution of the States General, 16 April, 1615.
CH. 11.
14 Spitsbergen named [June
burst in sunder and come to nothing : but this is now found
to be contrary, and it is not to be wondered at that no man
could tell where they breed their egges, for no man that
ever we knew had ever beene under 80 degrees."
Next day, the 23rd, the weather being very clear, they
went out of the bay and rounded Hakluyt's Headland " to
seek how far the coast could extend itself." They "could
not perceive the end of the land, which extended itself
S. ^ E., 28 miles, as far as a high and mountainous cape
[Knotty Point?], which looked as if it were an island."
They returned and cast anchor in the same place and at
midnight found by observation that they were in lat.
79 42', which is the latitude of Danes Island 1 .
On the 24th they sailed southward down the west coast
or wall of the island, as De Veer well calls it. " The land,"
says Barents, "was for the greatest part broken, rather
high, and consisted only of mountains and pointed hills ;
for which reason we gave it the name of 'Spitsbergen 2 ."
Captain Rijp, giving evidence before the magistrates of
Delft, said, "We gave to that land the name of Spitsbergen,
for the great and high points that were on it." They did
not however conceive it to be an island but only part of
Greenland, as De Veer expressly states.
On the 25th they entered and cast anchor in a bay,
which must have been Magdalena Bay, for it was 40 miles
north of Vogelhoek. They rowed up the bay, on the
south side of which was a low cape, the English burying-
ground of later days, with a cove behind it " having shelter
from all winds," and "a little creek like a harbour." They
landed and found two walrus' tusks " that waighed sixe
pound," and many smaller tusks, so they named the inlet
Tusk Bay. On this occasion they appear to have taken
formal possession of the land for Holland and to have
deposited among some rocks a record of their visit enclosed
in a box 3 .
On the 26th they sailed into the north end of Foreland
Sound, but found that it was blocked at some distance in by
1 79 42', says De Veer, who gives the elements of the calculation. Barents'
log says 79° 24', but this is doubtless a misprint.
2 Not Spitzbergen, as it is commonly but incorrectly spelt. The name is
Dutch, from Spits, "a point."
3 See the affidavits printed by Muller, Gesch. der N. Co. p. 362.
1596] Bear Island a gam 15
the banks afterwards called " the Barr." There was ice
on the shallows so they were forced to turn back, for which
reason they called the sound Keerwyck 1 . On Barents'
map this bank is marked as an isthmus joining the Fore-
land to the mainland, but from his log it is evident that he
knew there was water over the bank. The next day was
calm, but on the 28th they emerged again from the sound
and rounded the north end of the Foreland to which they
gave the name Vogelhoek, from the great number of
birds about, which flew against the sails. This day they
sailed southward along the west coast of the Foreland,
"which was very mountainous and sharp with a beautiful
shore." At noon the latitude was observed to be 7 8° 20'.
Later they passed the mouth of Ice Sound, "a large bay,
which extended itself in the land E.N.E., and was on both
sides high and mountainous " ; afterwards they saw Bell
Sound, "in which was much ice under the land." These
are the bays named Grooten Inwyck, and Inwyck on
Barents' chart. They continued southward along the land
till at noon on the 29th they were in lat. 76 50' N. The
ice now drove them out to sea. At noon on the 30th they
were in lat. 70 N. and on the 1st of July they sighted Bear
Island once more.
It is evident that between Barents and Rijp there had
been frequent differences of opinion as to the course to be
steered. Rijp was always for going further west, Barents
hankered after the east. Their differences now culminated,
and they decided to separate and go their own ways.
Barents sailed to Novaja Zemlja, where, after sailing up
the west coast and rounding the north-east point, he was
shut in by ice at Ice Haven on the 27th of August and
forced to winter. On the 30th the ship was nipped in the
ice. "Whereby all that was about and in it began to
crack, so that it seemed to burst in a 100 peeces, which
was most fearfull both to see and heare, and made all the
haire of our heads to rise upright with feare." They now
began carrying things ashore, where they set up a tent,
and presently, having found much drift-wood, determined
1 See A. Cz. Herman's affidavit of 1630, printed in Mailer's Geschiedenis der
N. Co. p. 363.
CH. II.
1 6 Barents wintering [1596
to build a hut. The carpenter died on September 23rd,
leaving them sixteen in number, whereof some were always
sick. By the end of October the house was finished and
they had moved into it.
During the winter only one man died, though many
suffered from scurvy, but the fresh meat they secured by
trapping foxes saved them. When daylight returned they
"made (3 April) a staff to plaie at Colfe 1 , thereby to stretch
our jointes"; and it is again recorded (May 15) that they
went out "to exercise their bodies with running, walking,
playing at colfe and other exercises, thereby to stirre their
ioynts and make them nymble." They had many contests
with bears, and once, like so many other early arctic travellers,
they ate a bear's liver which made them all sick so that
their skins peeled off. All through the month of May they
waited, hoping to be able to bring their ship away, but it
was not possible ; so they made preparations for leaving in
two open boats, and Barents, who was very ill with scurvy
wrote a letter, which he put into a bandoleer and hanged up
in the chimney, stating briefly the nature of their doings and
sufferings in that olace.
At length, on the 13th of June, they drew Barents and
another very sick man to the shore and embarked in the
two open boats, 15 men in all. They rowed round the N.E.
point of Novaja Zemlja and began making their way with
great difficulty down the west coast. On the 20th, near
Cape Comfort (E. of Cape Nassau), " Claes Andriezoon
began to be extreme sick, whereby we perceived that he
would not live long, and the chief boateson came into our
scute and told us in what case he was, and that he could
not long continue alive ; whereupon Willem Barents spake
and said, ' Methinks with mee too it will not last long ' ;
and yet we did not judge Willem Barents to be so sicke,
for we sat talking one with the other, and spake of many
things, and Willem Barents looked at my little chart,
1 It may interest golfers to be reminded that many representations of their
game exist in works of art by Dutch painters of the 17th century. I remember
two, both dated 1654. One is a drawing of golf-players by Jan van de Capelle,
in a sketch-book (which also contains drawings by Rembrandt and other con-
temporary artists), which belonged to Madame Kneppelhout in 1894. The other
is an etching by Rembrandt (b. 125), representing the sport of " Kolef." The
game is depicted in countless paintings of the same period.
1597] Death of Barents 17
which I had made touching our voiage and we had some
discussion about it ; at last he laid away the card and spake
unto me, saying, ' Gerrit, give me some drinke ' ; and he
had no sooner drunke but he was taken with so sodain
a qualm, that he turned his eies in his head and died
presently, and we had no time to call the maister out of the
other scute to speak unto him ; and so he died before Claes
Andriesz, who died shortly after him. The death of Willem
Barents put us in no small discomfort, as being the chiefe
guide and onely pilot on whom we reposed our selves ; but
we could not strive against God, and therefore we must of
force be content." Thus died the discoverer of Spitsbergen,
and leader of the first polar expedition that wintered so far
north. A third man died a few days later.
With incredible toil the weak survivors, all more or less
scurvy-stricken, laboured through the ice, till the 19th,
when they came into open water near Cross Island. Sailing
now more quickly southward they met two Russian Lodyas
on the 28th and obtained a little relief from them. Shortly
afterwards they found scurvy-grass, which did them all
incredible good, but the scurvy was not entirely cured till
much later. Sailing straight across the sea they reached
the mouth of the Petchora on August 4th. On Septem-
ber 2nd, after voyaging 1,600 miles in their open boats and
undergoing innumerable hardships, being often brought to
the verge of starvation, they joined three Dutch ships at
Kola on the White Sea, whereof, by a strange chance, one
was under command of the selfsame Jan Cornelisz. Rijp
from whom they had parted thirteen months before at Bear
Island.
Of Rijp's doings, after parting from Barents, we
possess, unfortunately, the most meagre accounts. Hessel
Gerrits in his Histoire du pays nomme' Spitsberghe only
says, " Rijp again set sail {i.e. from Bear Island) towards
the north, and came after marvellous accidents from ice and
winds, to the spot where they had anchored for the first
time in 8o° {i.e. to Fair Haven). He had also been up
again to Vogelhoek, and he returned from thence with the
intention of rejoining Barents." Pontanus in his History
of Amsterdam says (p. 168) "that Rijp pretended that they
ought to retrace their steps till 8o°." Rijp himself in his
c. CH. II.
1 8 Rijfts Doings [1597
affidavit only says that "they returned to the same place
where they had been at first," and that, from Bear Island,
they " took their course to the north round " Spitsbergen.
There is every reason to believe that they merely retraced
their former course and made no new discoveries, the ice-
pack near Fair Haven keeping them back. If any dis-
coveries of importance had been made they would assuredly
have been included in the chart of 1598, whereas nothing is
there indicated and Rijp's returning ship is merely depicted
in the neighbourhood of the Faroe Islands. De Veer says
that Rijp left them to " saile unto 80 degrees againe ; for
hee was of opinion that there he should finde a passage
through, on the east-side of the land that lay under
80 degrees " — that is to say that he did not intend to
explore eastward till he had reached Fair Haven.
From Kola, Rijp carried the twelve survivors safely
home to Holland. They entered the Maas on the 29th of
October, rowed to Delft, then to the Hague, and from
thence to Haarlem, "and upon the 1st of November about
noone got to Amsterdam, in the same clothes that we ware
in Nova Zembla, with our caps furd with white foxes skins.
...Many men woundred to see us, as having estemed us
long before that to have bin dead and rotten. The newes
thereof being spread abroad in the towne, it was also
carried to the Princen Hof, where the noble lords, the
Chancellor and the Ambassador from the most illustrious
King of Denmark, Norway, Goths, and Wends, were then
at table. For the which cause we were presently fetcht
thither by the Schout and two of the lords of the town, and
there in the presence of the said lord ambassador and the
burger masters we made rehearsall of our voyages and
adventures."
This memorable and tragic expedition became famous
in the annals of Dutch navigation and is still rightly
regarded as one of the glories of Holland's heroic days.
Hendrik Tollens wrote a poem upon it. De Veer's account
of it was widely circulated, translated into many languages,
and has been frequently reprinted, twice in English during
the nineteenth century. Not till the year 1870 was Novaja
Zemlja circumnavigated ; Captain Johannesen accomplished
this feat and visited the east coast of the island, when he
1597] Barents Relics 19
approached but did not find Barents' winter quarters.
In 187 1 another Norwegian, Captain Elling Carlsen of
Hammerfest, took his sloop into Barents' Ice Haven on
September 7th. On the 9th he discovered the ruins of the
hut (16 metres long by 10 metres broad), and brought
awav from it a number of relics, which had been buried and
preserved under a thick accumulation of ice. Measures
were successfully taken by the Dutch Government to obtain
possession of these treasures. They were presented to
Holland by their purchaser 1 . Captain Gundersen was
the next to visit Ice Haven, in 1875. He found and
brought away some old charts and a MS. translation of the
narrative of Pet and Jackman's voyage of 1580. Finally,
in 1876, Mr Charles Gardiner sailed in his yacht Glow-
worm through Matoschkinshar to Ice Haven and made a
thorough examination of the ruins of Barents' hut. He
brought back 1 1 2 more relics which he generously presented
to the Dutch Government 2 . All these objects were brought
together and form the interesting collection now exhibited
in the Museum at Amsterdam.
1 J. K. J. De Jonge : Nova Zembla, De Voorwerpen door de Nederlandsche
Zeevaarders na hunne overwintering aldaar in 1597, achtergelaten en in 1871,
door Kapitein Car/sen teruggevonden. The Hague, 1873, 8vo.
2 J. K. J. De Jonge : Nova Zembla, De Voorwerpe?i door de Nederlandsche
Zeevaarders na hunne overwintering, op Nowaja-Zemlja bij hitn vertrek in 1597
achtergelaten en in 1876, door Chas. Gardiner, Esq., aldaar teruggevonden
The Hague, 1877, 8vo.
CH. 11. 2 — 2
20 [1603
CHAPTER III.
WALRUS HUNTING AND TENTATIVE EXPEDITIONS.
When the trade of the Muscovy Company with the
White Sea began to suffer from Dutch competition, the
idea not unnaturally arose that, as the result of fresh
exploration, some new and valuable trade by way ol the
northern regions, whether across to Cathay or elsewhere,
might be created and the monopoly of it preserved by its
discoverers. Accordingly, in 1603, a ship named the
Grace, whereof Stephen Ben net was master, was ordered
to go as usual to Kola, but, after completing her trade there
" to proceed upon some discoverie " before returning home.
This vessel on August 16th came in sight of Bear Island,
which Barents had discovered and named in 1596. Bennet
must have been aware of this discovery, but the account of
his voyage says nothing of it and implies that the island was
now seen for the first time. On the 1 7th they landed and
saw foxes but returned aboard, without any profit ; " only
one of our men tooke up a piece of lead, and, I (Gorden)
found a piece of a morse's tooth, by which we perceived
that the sea morses (walrus) did use thither."
Next year (1604) the Speed, under the same master, after
visiting Lapland, went again to Bear Island, which was
now named after Sir Francis Cherry the chief adventurer of
the voyage. Master and crew were very "green" about
arctic matters. The multitude of birds astonished them,
and when a walrus put his head out of the water "looking
earnestly at the boate," and making " an horrible noyse and
roaring... they in the boate thought he would have sunke
it." A few days later, they found the walrus herd on the
1605] Walrus Hunting 21
N.E. shore of the island. " It seemed very strange to us
to see such a multitude of monsters of the sea lye like
hogges upon heapes : in the end wee shot at them, not
knowing whether they could runne swiftly or seize upon us
or no Some, when they were wounded in the flesh,
would but looke up and lye downe againe. Some were
killed with the first shot ; and some would goe into the sea
with five or sixe shot ; they are of such an incredible
strength. When all our shot and powder was spent, wee
would blow their eyes out with a little pease shot, and then
come on the blind side of them, and with our carpenter's
axe cleave their heads. But for all we could doe, of above
a thousand we killed but fifteene." They cut off the
heads of the unfortunate beasts and carried them aboard.
On succeeding days they killed more walruses and
carried off their heads likewise, as well as such tusks as
they could pick up, but they made no attempt to save the
blubber.
In 1605, Bennet was sent by the Muscovy Company
direct to Cherry Island to spend the summer killing
walruses and boiling down the blubber into oil. They now
found that lances were better weapons than guns for the
work they had to do. The result was that they killed
abundance of morses and boiled down eleven tons of oil.
The day they were going aboard ship again, all manner
of things went wrong. Their boat was nearly swamped in
the surf : two boys were almost hit by a falling rock : and
so forth. Accordingly, they named the hill at the south of
the island (whose slopes they had to climb to call for help)
Mount Misery. " Likewise there is a very high mountain
on the E.-S.-E. point of this Hand, which, because Master
Weldon and I (J. Poole) got two foxes neere it, I called it
Mount Maleperdus, alluding to the name in the merrie
booke of Reinold the Fox 1 ."
In 1606, the voyage was repeated. They had now
become so expert in walrus hunting that in six hours they
killed from six to seven hundred beasts, out of which
22 tons of oil were made and three hogsheads filled with
tusks.
1 On modern maps of Bear Island the name Mount Misery is generally found
attached to the hill that should be called Mount Maleperdus.
CH. III.
22 Hudson s Voyage [May
The most puzzling of all the accounts of early voyages
to Spitsbergen is that which describes Hudson's voyage of
1607. The fault was probably not Hudson's for he is
known to have been an accurate observer, but John Playse's.
Playse (or Pleyce) was one of the ship's company, who kept
a journal and seems to have copied into it extracts from
Hudson's log. It is clear, however, that he either misun-
derstood what Hudson wrote, or altered it in the copying, for
the purpose of claiming new discoveries beyond those made
by Barents in 1596, as well as the attainment of a far
higher latitude than was actually reached. In support of
this contention I now proceed to analyze Playse's account,
as printed by Purchas (Vol. in. p. 675), and reprinted by
the Hakluyt Society in i860 [Henry Hudson the Navi-
gator, edited by G. M. Asher, pp. 1-22).
On May 1, 1607, the Hopewell, eighty tons, with
Henry Hudson for master, John Colman mate, William
Collins boatswain, and a crew of eight men and a boy,
weighed anchor at Gravesend and sailed for the northern
seas. After spending some time on the coast of Greenland,
they sailed eastward for Spitsbergen, of whose discovery
by Barents they were aware, and by whose chart they
apparently directed their course. The claim to have inde-
pendently rediscovered the island was never made by
Hudson. On June 27 (p. 8), "about one or two of the
clocke in the morning, we made Newland [i.e. Spitsbergen],
being cleere weather on the sea ; but the land was covered
with fogge, the ice lying very thick all along the shore for
15 or 16 leagues, which we saw. Having faire wind, we
coasted it in a very pleasing smooth sea, and had no ground
at an hundred fathoms foure leagues from the shoare. This
day at noone, wee accounted we were in 78 degrees [i.e.
near the mouth of Ice Sound], and we stood along the shoare.
This day was so foggie, that we were hardly able to see
the land many times, but by our account we were neare
Vogel Hooke [the north end of Prince Charles Foreland,
lat. 79°]. About eight of the clocke this eevening, we
purposed to shape our course from thence north-west."
They tried to get away from the land, but the ice drove
them back. About midnight after the 28th they were west
and in sight of Vogelhoek. On July 1 at noon (p. 10),
i6o;] Ice Sound 23
"wee were embayed with ice, lying between the land and
us. By our observation we were in yS degrees 42 minutes,
whereby we accounted we were thwart of the great In-
draught." The " great Indraught " is the " Grooten Inwyck "
of Barents, the modern Ice Sound. The latitude of its mouth
on Barents' chart is 78°, which is approximately correct.
If they were in 78 42', they must have been off Cape Sietoe
of Prince Charles Foreland. " To free ourselves of the ice,
we steered between the south-east and south, and to the
westward, as we could have sea [i.e. they could not have
been making rapid progress ; yet] about six this evening
it pleased God to give us cleere weather, and we found we
were shot farre into the inlet, being almost a bay, and
environed with very high mountains, with low land be-
tweene them ; wee had no ground in this bay at an hundred
fathoms." The description of the bay and the depth
suggests that they were inside Ice Sound, 90 miles sailing
from their position at noon, which is impossible. If the
position was fairly correct, as is probable, they must merely
have been somewhat east of the south point of Prince
Charles Foreland, but certainly not up Foreland Sound.
The log continues, " Being sure where we were, we
steered away west [the natural course if they were off the
mouth of Ice Sound, but an impossible course if they were
in Foreland Sound], the wind at south, east and calme, and
found all our ice on the northern shore, and a cleare sea to
the southward."
On July 2, "the wind at north-east, a faire gale with
cleere weather, the ice being to the northward off us, and
the weather shore [i.e. land being to the northward], and
an open sea to the southwards under our lee," they were
outside the mouth of Ice Sound, but not yet clear of the
south extremity of Prince Charles Foreland. They sailed
10 leagues to the north-west, and at noon, by observation,
they were in lat. 78 56', i.e. nearly off Vogelhoek again.
On the third (at noon ?) they were, by observation, in
lat. 78 33', i.e. off the middle of Prince Charles Foreland.
" This day wee had our shrouds frozen ; it was searching
cold ; we also trended the ice, not knowing whether we
were cleare or not, the wind being at north. The fourth
was very cold, and our shrouds and sayles frozen ; we found
CH. III.
24 Hudson s Voyage [July
we were farre in the inlet." They accordingly stood south-
south-east, south, and south-west by west, which seems to
prove that they must have been at the southern entrance
to Foreland Sound, up which the tide may have carried
them in the fog. Such courses would not have taken
them out of Ice Sound.
At twelve on July 5, "we strooke a hull, having brought
ourselves neare the mouth of the inlet." On July 6 they
were in the open sea, in 77°30 / by observation; that is to
say, off Bell Point, south of the entrance to Bell Sound.
The day was clear, but nothing is said of land in sight.
The 7th was again clear. They reckoned that they were
in 78 , and "out of the Sacke." What is meant by the
Sacke I do not know, but it cannot have been either Ice
Sound, or Foreland Sound, or any other land-locked bay.
The recorded latitudes prove that Hudson had not spent
his time during the whole of the first week of July either
in Foreland Sound or in Ice Sound, as commentators gene-
rally assume.
" Now, having the wind at north-north-east, we steered
away south and by east, with purpose to fall with the
southermost part of this land, which we saw ; hoping by
this meane, either to defray the charge of the voyage [? by
discovery], or else, if it pleased God in time to give us a
faire wind to the north-east, to satisfie expectation." If the
intention was to sail round the south cape of Spitsbergen
and then to the north-east, it was soon abandoned, for, after
some hours' calm on the 8th, they "stood away north-east,"
and continued sailing north-east as steadily as possible
during the 9th and 10th. But in the afternoon of the 10th
they had to sail south-south-west out of the ice "to get
more sea-roome." On July 11," having a fresh gale of wind
at south-south-east, it behoved mee 1 to change my course,
and to sayle to the north-east by the souther end of New-
land." Clearly here "souther" is a misprint for "norther,"
for they went on sailing towards the north. At noon their
latitude was 79 1 7', and the sun on the meridian bore
1 Passages written in the first person singular are assumed to be copied by
Playse, verbatim, out of Hudson's own log. The whole passage relating to
July 11 (p. 12) is of this character.
i6o;] Collins Cape 25
"south and by west, westerly," which gives the compass
deviation.
They soon ran into ice again, and had to turn south
once more. At noon on July 12, "by our accompt we
were in 80 degrees," but this is probably an error for yg'\
They continued sailing north and north-east. At midnight
(p. 13), "out of the top William Collins, our boatswaine,
saw the land called Newland by the Hollanders [i.e. Vogel-
hoek 1 ], bearing south-south-west twelve leagues from us 2 ."
This would put them in lat. 79 30' or less, as they generally
overestimated distances. On July 13, at noon, "by obser-
vation we were in 80 degrees 23 minutes." Seeing that we
know their courses from this point till next day, when they
were off the mouth of Whales [King's] Bay, and that we
can thus reckon back from a known position, it is demon-
strably probable that for 8o° 23' we should read 79 23'.
On July 14th, "at noone, being a thicke fogge, we
found ourselves neere land, bearing east off us ; and running
farther we found a bay [Whales Bay] open to the west and
by north northerly, the bottome and sides thereof being to
our sight very high and ragged land. The norther side of
this bayes mouth, being high land, is a small island [really
a mountain cape, Scoresby's Mitre Cape, which from the
south looks like an island], the which we called Collins
Cape, by the name of our boatswaine, who first saw it. In
this bay we saw many whales, and one of our company
having a hooke and line overboord to trie for fish, a whale
came under the keele of our ship and made her held ; yet
by God's mercie we had no harme, but the losse of the
hooke and three parts of the line. At a south-west sunne,
from the north-west and by north a flood set into the bay.
At the mouth of this bay we had sounding thirtie fathoms,
and after six and twentie fathoms ; but being- farther in, we
had no ground at an hundred fathoms, and therefore judged
it rather a sound then a bay. Betweene this high ragged
[land], in the swampes and vallies lay much snow. Heere
1 Which throughout this log is assumed to be the most northerly point seen
by Barents.
2 This emphasis on the land discovered by the Hollanders is intended to
prepare for a claim presently to be made for " land by us discovered," Playse's
idea being that Barents only discovered as far as Vogelhoek — an utter blunder,
if not an intentional fraud.
CH. III.
26 Whales Bay [July
wee found it hot. On the souther side of this bay lye
three or four small islands or rockes 1 . In the bottom of
this bay, John Colman, my mate, and William Collins, my
boatswaine, with two others of our company, went on
shoare, and there they found and brought aboord a payre
of morses teeth in the jaw ; they likewise found whales
bones, and some dosen or more of deeres homes ; they
saw the footings of beasts of other sorts ; they also saw
rote-geese ; they saw much driftwood on the shoare, and
found a stream or two of fresh water. Here they found it
hot on the shoare, and drank water to coole their thirst,
which they also commended. Here we found the want of
a better ship-boate. As they certified me, they were not
on the shoare past half an houre, and among other things
brought aboord a stone of the countrey. When they went
from us it was calme, but presently after we had a gale of
wind at north-east, which came with the flood with fogge.
We plyed too and againe in the bay, waiting their coming ;
but after they came aboord we had the wind at east and by
south a fine gale ; we minding our voyage, and the time to
perform it, steered away north-east and north-north-east.
This night proved cleere, and we had the sunne on the
meridian, on the north and by east part of the compasse ;
from the upper edge of the horizon, with the crosse-staffe,
we found his height 10 degrees 40 minutes, without allowing
any thing for the semidiameter of the sunne, or the distance
off the end of the staffe from the center in the eye."
The latitude, therefore, was approximately 79° 5'. The
latitude of the mouth of King's Bay is 79°. Moreover,
King's Bay agrees with the bay described in all particulars.
The sounding at its mouth is 27 fathoms, whilst within
there are 250 fathoms. Near its southern shore are four
or five small islands or rocks, near Coal Haven. Hudson
named it Whales Bay, as we gather from a later entry
(p. 20) in Playse's log, where he says (July 27), "we found
the want of a good ship-boate, as once we had done before
at Whales bay." The name was used in 161 1 in the
Muscovy Company's instructions to Thomas Edge, who
was ordered to take his ship to Whales Bay, and there fish
for whales, and who sailed accordingly to King's Bay.
1 Here begins another extract from Hudson's log.
1607] Hakluyts Headland 27
In the morning of July 15 "was very cleere weather,
the sunne shining warme, but little wind at east southerly.
By a south-east sunne we had brought Collins cape to beare
of! us south-east, and we saw the high land of Newland,
that part by us discovered on our starboard, eight or ten
leagues from us trending north-east and by east [really
north magnetic ; their bearings are frequently very wrong],
and south-west and by west, eighteene or twentie leagues
from us to the north-east, being a very high mountaynous
land, like ragged rockes with snow betweene them [the
so-called Seven Icebergs, a good description]. By mine
account the norther part of this land which now we saw
stretched into 81 degrees." The furthest point they could
possibly have seen was Hakluyt's Headland, which Edge
records to have been named by Hudson on this voyage,
but that is only in lat. 79° 49/. Probably they did not at
this moment see further than the point south of the entrance
to Magdalena Bay. The claim to have discovered the land
north of Collins Cape is as unfounded as was their claim to
have reached a very high latitude.
In the morning of July 16 the weather was warm and
clear. " Being runne toward the farthest part of the land
by us discovered [i.e. to Hakluyt's Headland], which for the
most part trendeth nearest hand north-east and south-west
[really north and south], wee saw more land joyning to the
same, trending north [really east] in our sight, by meanes
of the clearnesse of the weather, stretching farre in 82 de-
grees and by the bowing or shewing of the sky much
farther."
There is a serious blunder here. Having reached
Hakluyt's Headland, they mistook the easterly trending
north coast for a northward extension of the west coast,
and so added on longitude to latitude. Believing, or pre-
tending to believe, that Hakluyt's Headland was in 8i°,
instead of 79° 49', they then concluded that the land they
saw stretched on northward (instead of eastward) into 82°
and further. "Which when I first saw," continues Playse,
now clearly quoting from Hudson, " I hoped to have had
a free sea between the land and the ice, and meant to have
compassed this land by the north [i.e. to have sailed along
the north coast]. But now, finding by proofe it was im-
CH. III.
28 Bell Sound [July
possible by means of the abundance of ice compassing us
about by the north and joyning to the land, and seeing God
did blesse us with a faire wind to sayle by the south of this
land [i.e. round the South Cape] to the north-east, we
returned, bearing up the helme, minding to hold that part
of the land which the Hollanders had discovered [i.e. Prince
Charles Foreland and the coast below Ice Sound] in our
sight ; and if contrary winds should take us, to harbour
there, and to trie what we could finde to the charge of our
voyage, and to proceed on our discoverie as soone as God
should blesse us with winde I think this land may bee
profitable to those that will adventure it. In this bay
before spoken of [Whales Bay], and about this coast, we
saw more abundance of seales than we had seene any time
before, swimming in the water. At noone this day, having
a stiffe g-ale of wind at north, we were thwart of Collins
cape, standing in 81 degrees and a halfe."
Seeing that on the previous page (p. 15) he had
recorded a very correct observation which gave 79 5' as
the latitude of Collins Cape, it is evident that there must
have been some jockeying of the figures here ; but upon
whom the responsibility should lie for the falsification it is
now impossible to say. It is, at all events, certain that the
most northerly point reached by Hudson was Hakluyt's
Headland, and that, the year being very icy and the pack
fast down on the north coast of Spitsbergen, he was unable
to proceed thence to the eastward as Barents had done.
From noon on July 16, and throughout the 17th, 18th,
and 19th, they proceeded southward. At eight o'clock in
the morning of the 20th " wee saw land ahead of us under
our lee, and to weatherward of us, distant from us 12
leagues, being part of Newland. It is very high moun-
tainous land ; the highest that we had seene until now [an
incorrect observation]. As we sayled neere it, we saw a
sound [Bell Sound] ahead of us, lying east and west. . . . From
eight till noone was calme. This day, by observation, we
were in jy degrees 26 minutes [the mouth of Bell Sound is
77 40']. On the norther side of the mouth of this inlet lie
three ilands [really blocks of mountains divided by valleys,
which would look like islands from the distance (10 leagues)
they were from land], not farre the one from the other, being
1607] La nun as Island 29
very high mountainous land. The farthest of the three to
the north-west [i.e. the block of the sea-front just south of
the entrance to Ice Sound] hath four very high mounts
[Mount Starashchin], like heapes of corne. That iland
next the inlets mouth, hath one verv high mount on the
souther end [true!]. Here one of our companie killed a
red-billed bird."
They were still in sight of land on the 23rd and 25th,
but when they sailed away west towards Greenland,
meaning, as he afterwards states (p. 20), quoting from
Hudson, " to have made my returne by the north of Green-
land to Davis his Streights, and so for England," if there
had been a passage, which of course there was not. So he
sailed back westward, and on July 30 saw some part of
Spitsbergen again.
"In the evening, we saw an iland bearing off us north-
west [? N.E.] from us 5 leagues, and we saw land bearing
off from us 7 leagues. We had land likewise bearing off us
from east-south-east to south-east and by east as we judged
10 leagues." The name Lammas Island marked on Hon-
dius' map, which professes to embody Hudson's discoveries,
probably refers to this island, though Lammas-day is not
July 30, but August 1. What they saw was not an island
but a mountain, for there is no island in the south of Spits-
bergen that can be seen 5 leagues away — certainly not the
Dun Islands, which correspond in latitude with the Lammas
Island of the map. It is highly probable that they were
off the mouth of Horn Sound, and that the " island " was
Rotchesfell. Sailing on slowly south, they accounted that
at midnight they were in lat. 76 . This must be a misprint
for yy°, which agrees with their probable position. The
parallel 76° runs nearly 30 miles clear south of the South
Cape. The land, 10 leagues distant, " was the likeliest
land that wee had seene on all parts of Newland, being
playne riggie land of a meane height and not ragged, as all
the rest was that we had seene this voyage, nor covered with
snow." Probably this refers to the low hills and large flats
that flank the coast for about 10 miles south of Horn Sound.
Early on August 1 they were thwart of Bear Island. " In
ranging homewards," says Thomas Edge in Purchas (111.
p. 464), Hudson "discovered an island [Jan Mayen Island]
CH. III.
30 Edges first Voyage [1608
lying in seventy-one degrees, which he named Hudson's
Tutches." On September 15 the Hopezvell "arrived in
Tilberie Hope in the Thames." Thus ended a voyage to
which, as far as Spitsbergen at any rate is concerned, more
historical importance has been attached than it deserved.
No new land was discovered and no very high latitude at-
tained. Its one important result was the observation of the
number of whales frequenting Whales Bay. A comparison
between Playse's log and that of Barents' companion Gerrit
De Veer demonstrates the great superiority of the Dutch-
men's work, both as explorers and as recorders of what
they discovered.
Hudson reported to his employers how numerous were
the whales, walruses, and seals, frequenting Whales Bay.
The ships that were sent to Bear Island to kill walrus
might evidently do better to come to this yet more
northerly region. If they could bring up crews capable of
killing whales, there was a probability of their making very
profitable voyages. Such appears to have been Hudson's
advice.
It was not, however, immediately acted upon. Next
year, 1608, the Paul was sent to Cherry Island, with
Poole again for pilot, and Thomas Edge 1 for supercargo.
This was apparently Edge's first voyage to the far north
which he was destined so often to revisit. According to
Poole's account it seems to have been successful, but from
Edge's commission of 161 1 we learn that it resulted in a
loss to the company, owing they say to the competition of
Hull interlopers. A young walrus carried home this year
reached London alive and was shown at Court " where the
king and many honourable personages beheld it with
admiration for the strangenesse of the same, the like
whereof had never before beene seene alive in England.
Not long after it fell sicke and died. As the beast in
shape is very strange, so is it of strange docilitie, and apt
to be taught." Live walruses have always been hard to
bring to the temperate parts of Europe. I can only hear
of one that ever came on its own account. That was the
1 For biographical details about Thomas Edge see Sir Martin Conway's
Early Dutch and English Voyages to Spitsbergen (London ; Hakluyt Soc.
p. xv.).
\6og] Hull Interlopers 31
walrus of whose head Diirer made the fine drawing, now in
the British Museum, dated 1521, and inscribed "The
animal whose head I have drawn here was taken in the
Netherlandish sea and was 12 Brabant ells long and had
four feet 1 ." In 161 3 two live walruses, cow and calf, were
brought to Holland and drawn "from the life" by Hessel
Gerrits, who published an engraving of them in his His-
toire du pays nommd Spitsberghe. In recent times walruses
have been brought to Europe rarely, and seldom long
survived their arrival.
Two ships were told off in 1609 to go to Lapland and
then on to Cherry [Bear] Island, but Poole changed the plan
and took his ship direct, thus reaching Bear Island on the
8th of May. As usual they made the cove near the south
point their harbour whenever the ice allowed, but the sea
about the island was so infested with ice this year that it
was not often possible for a ship to lie near the land.
Moreover, so long as the ice packed about the coast wal-
ruses did not come ashore, but bears on the contrary were
numerous. So they killed a great many bears, about which
they tell several good stories, too long for quotation here".
A boat's crew was, for many days, separated from its ship
and had many adventures and the ships also suffered from
ice-pressures. The lodes of lead-ore were again discovered,
near the south cove and on the neighbouring little island,
named Gull Island, whilst on the north coast they dis-
covered coal, which burnt well. This year there were two
interloping ships from Hull, Bonner being master of one,
Thomas Marmaduke of the other. There was some un-
pleasantness between the interlopers and the company's
men, but misfortunes of various kinds rendered each in turn
dependent upon the others for important services. Not till
the end of July were many walruses killed, but then they did
pretty well. On the 10th of August the company's last
ship sailed away and Bonner was left behind in possession.
It is recorded that Thomas Marmaduke, in his ship the
Heartsease, sailed this year northwards from Bear Island
and "discovered" Spitsbergen. No details of this most im-
1 W. Martin Conway, Literary Remains of Albrecht Diirer. Cambridge,
1889, pp. in, 145.
2 See Purchas ill. 561, 562.
CH. III.
32 Thomas Marmaduke [1609
portant voyage are preserved 1 , but it was long remembered
by the people of Hull, and on it they based their claim to
a share in the whale-fishery.
As Marmaduke's name will often recur it may be well
to put together briefly the main facts known about him. In
a list dated Sept. 1600 he is mentioned as a younger brother
of the Hull Trinity House. He was probably in command
of one of the Hull interlopers at Bear Island in 1608. In
1609 he went to Bear Island and Spitsbergen. In 161 1
he was at Spitsbergen again and sailed along the coast
killing walruses ; he also salvaged the wrecks of the Mus-
covy Company's ships and carried their crews home. In
1 6 1 2 he explored the north coast of Spitsbergen as far as
Grey Hook. In 161 3 and 16 14 he explored for the Mus-
covy Company. In 1613 he visited the north coast and
then went to the eastward, and it was probably he who
discovered Hope Island 2 and other islands to the eastward.
In 1 6 14 he again went as far as Grey Hook and afterwards
to the eastward. In 16 17 he is mentioned as being at
Bear Island and later as sailing for Hope Island. In 1619
he came into Horn Sound with his ship badly damaged by
ice in trying to get east from the South Cape. This is the
last mention of him. He claimed to have discovered Jan
Mayen at an early date. Evidently he was one of the
most active Spitsbergen explorers of the first generation.
It is a pity that only these bare facts are known about him.
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 497 (1643), No. 68.
2 The name of his ship in 161 1 and 1612 was the Hopewell.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST HUNTING EXPEDITION TO SPITSBERGEN.
In 1610 1 Sir Thomas Smith and the rest of the
Muscovy Company again sent the Amitie (70 tons),
with Jonas Poole as master, Nicholas Woodcock, mate,
and a crew of thirteen men and a boy, to Cherry (Bear)
Island. They were ordered not merely to kill walruses
there, as in previous years, but to sail on northward, and
search "for the liklihood of a trade or passage that way."
They sailed from Blackwall on the 1st March. Without
touching at Cherry Island, they came on the 6th May in
sight of a mountain in the south of Spitsbergen, named by
them, Muscovy Company's Mount. Sailing on, they dis-
covered, four leagues further north, the mouth of Horn
Sound, and sent a skiff ashore, which returned with a piece
of reindeer horn, whence the sound was named, Horn
Sound.
" I followed," says Poole, "into the said bay with the
ship, but standing in I had a stiffe gale of winde off the
shoare, which drave abundance of Ice out of the Sound,
through the which I enforced the ship, in hope there to
have found an harbour Finding no benefit to bee had,
nor haven for the ship, I stood to sea." Next day he
approached and named Bell Point, " because of a hill
formed like a bell on the top To the northwards of
Bell Point goes in a great Bay (Bell Sound) with two
Sounds in it, the one (Sardammer Bay, Van Keulen Bay)
lieth E.-S.-E., the other (Low Sound) N.-E. by E. ; the
last sound you can hardly discerne, by reason there is a
1 Purchas his Pilgrimes, London, 1625, Vol. III. Book IV. Chap. I. p. 699
et seq.
C. CH. IV. 3
34 Low Sound [May
long Island (Axel Island) lying in the mouth of it. But
the going into the said sound is on the north side, yet there
is an inlet under Point Partition, but very narrow and full of
rocks and an exceeding tide setteth in there, ...I called the
North Sound Lowe Sound. Into the bay I turned... Being
neere the Point that parteth both the sounds, the winde
increased with raine. Then I saw the sound frozen over
from side to side, and upon the ice a beare and great store
of Mohorses (walruses), but the winde blew so extreme
hard, that the boat could not row to windwards, to trie if
we could kill some of them." The weather was very bad,
" very thick fogs with wind, frost, and snow, and cold, that
I thinke they did strive here which of them should have
the superioritie." The sea was full of ice, and the naviga-
tion difficult.
On the 2 1 st Poole was off the south point of Prince
Charles Foreland (which he calls Black Point He), whence
he saw and named Ice Sound. Like Horn and Bell
Sounds, it also was frozen up. Finding no shelter he con-
tinued northward, sometimes trying to fish but without
success. On the 25th he sent a boat ashore at Fair Fore-
land ; it returned laden with drift-wood and whalebone
picked up from the shore. The quantity of whalebone
thus obtained at different points on the coast during this
voyage was very great. The crew saw many walruses and
brought news that fresh water ponds and lakes on shore
were unfrozen, "which putteth me in hope of a milde
summer here, after so sharp a beginning as I have had, and
my opinion is such (and I assure myself it is so) that a
passage may bee assoone attayned this way, by the Pole,
as any unknowne way whatsoever, by reason the sun doth
give a great heat in this climate ; and the Ice, I meane that
that freezeth here, is nothing so huge as I have seene in
jt, degrees."
Poole cruised about for some days between Fair Fore-
land and Knotty Point, as he named the cape north of
Magdalena Bay, looking into and naming Close Cove
(Cross Bay), Deer Sound (King's Bay), and Fowle Sound
(Foreland Sound). On the 1st of June he was in Close
Cove, where he found a sheltered anchorage in the west
side of the sound. This was the haven now known as
i6io] Cross Road named 35
Ebeltoft Haven. Poole named it Cross Road, because
" upon the side of a hill, a mile to the westwards of the
Road, I set up a Crosse, with a writing upon it, signifying
the Day of my arrivall first in this land, by whom I was
set out, and the time of my being heere." Several days
were spent in this neighbourhood, and excellent sport was
enjoyed. Near the road was a small rock-island, fre-
quented by walruses. One morning Poole, after killing a
bear, visited this rock to kill walruses. " As wee went by
the shoare side I espied Deere, three of them I slue, and
one of my company one. But when I came to the rocke,
the Ice that the beasts lay on was hollow, and the rocks
that was betwixt the Ice and the sea stood sloping toward
the sea ; the which when I saw, I determined to go aboord
and let them alone, yet afterward I went on the rocke
betwixt the Ice and the sea: and as I with the rest of my
company were killing them, the Ice brake, and Ice and
beasts slid into the sea together, and carryed one of the
men with them, so that he escaped out of that danger very
hardly ; for besides the weight of dead Mohorses, and Ice
that bruised him, the beasts that were alive strook at him
in the water, and bruised him very soare. I had been in
the same case, if I had not been the nimbler, and slipt on
one side. I killed three morses, whose teeth I tooke off.
Then I espied the Beare, which my Mate had hurt before
with a shot ; hee went into the sea, when hee saw the
boate, where I slew him with a lance, and brought him
aboord."
The abundance of animal life at that time in Spitsbergen
can scarcely be exaggerated. Poole constantly records
"great store of whales," but he made no attempt to slay
them, for the Basques were then the only people who
understood whaling. On the 5th of June, continues Poole,
I " killed some -fowle, which I found in great abundance :
and when I was ready to go aboord, I saw fourteene
Deere, at which time I spent all my powder, and shot but
one shot, with the which I slue a fat buck. The same day,
at a south sun, I went on land and slue two deere more.
And at a South-west sun I went on land and slue a doe,
and took the faune alive, and brought it aboord, but it
dyed the next day. The calme continued till the sixth
ch. iv. 3 — 2
36 Ice Sound entered [June
day,... then I sent the skiffe to the rocke aforesaid, to see
what store of morses were there ; at three of the clocke
they came aboord, and told me there was neere two hundred
beasts. I tooke bothe the boat and the skiffe, with all my
company and went to the rock, and in going thither I slue
a bear : but when I came to the rocke, the beasts begun
to goe into the sea, then I presently went on land, with all
my company, and slue eightie beasts, whose teeth I tooke,
and in goine aboord slue another beare."
On the 14th of June he sailed from Cross Road and
spent a day or two in the neighbourhood of Knotty Point
but soon returned to Cross Road again, where one day ten
bears were killed. From the 21st to the 26th Poole was
cruising down and landing on the west coast of Charles
Foreland, where he killed bears and reindeer and gathered
a great quantity of what he calls Whales' Fins, that is to
say whalebone fallen from dead whales. On the 26th he
entered Ice Sound and observed Safe Haven, " but by
reason of the tyde, edy-winds, I could not get into it " ; so
he sailed across to Green Haven (which he named) and
anchored there on the 27th. Next day he stayed in the
haven "and tried the beares grease to bring it into oyle,
and when we were all busied, a beare came swimming over
the bay, towards the ship, which I slue, and split my
peece."
On July 5th he sailed, Ice Sound being still very full of
ice ; on the 6th he was off Low Ness in heavy weather,
" abundance of ice all alono- the land to the Southwards of
Bell Sound." He worked up and down the coast till the
1 7th, when he once more anchored in Cross Road, and
slew a bear, capturing her two young alive. Hunting
expeditions made into King's Bay (Deer Sound) were very
successful and resulted moreover in the discovery of " Sea-
coales, which burnt very well." These coals were doubt-
less obtained in what is now known as Coal Haven 1 . On
the 24th Poole was again in Bell Sound and " found but
little ice." He sent the skiff " to seeke for a road for the
1 On the Jurassic coal of Spitsbergen see a paper by John J. Stevenson in
the Annals of the New York Acad, of Science, Vol. xvi. no. 4, pp. 82-95,
17 March, 1905. The coal beds at Advent Bay were inspected from an indus-
trial point of view in 1903 and began to be worked in 1904.
i6io] A successful Voyage 37
ship and also for commodities." The skiff explored the
channel leading into Low Sound, south of Axel Island,
but found it to be "full of rockes from side to side." A
sheltered harbour two leagues east of Point Partition was
discovered and there the ship anchored on the 25th. This
was doubtless the cove behind what is now called Eders
Island in Van Keulen Bay.
On the 27th he weighed and "steered out betwixt an
iland and the point where I rid." Next day, being near
Ice Point, he met with much ice, " which put mee from the
land," so he stood away for Cherry (Bear) Island. On the
1 st of August he was still beating in the ice and "could
find no end thereof, because it was so foggie, and the ice
packed very close." Ultimately he got out to the westward
of the ice infesting Bear Island and thereupon "determined
to stand for England, as God would gave me leave... The
last of August I arrived at London, Blessed be God for
ever and ever. Amen."
The bag made in Spitsbergen on this voyage consisted
of about 1 20 walrus, 5 1 reindeer, 30 bears killed and 3 cubs
taken alive, one narwhal horn and a great quantity of whale-
bone picked up on the shore. The blubber was carried to
London in bulk and the boiling of it down into oil caused
the Muscovy Company "great trouble and inconvenience."
Moreover "lewd and bad people," to wit apparently some
of the seamen, " imbeseled " the company's property,
whalebone, walrus teeth, and the like. Nevertheless the
Adventurers seem to have done pretty well. Jonas Poole
oave them such an account of the " great store of whales "
in the Spitsbergen bays and other resources of that land,
that a larger expedition was decided on for the following
year ( 1 6 1 1 ).
CH. IV
CHAPTER V.
THE BEGINNING OF THE SPITSBERGEN WHALE-FISHERY.
Of whales and whaling much has been written and
more remains to be written. In this place we can deal
with neither subject at length, but only so far as the doings
and adventures of man in Spitsbergen are concerned.
Whales are of many kinds and sizes, but only two species
interested the whalers of the old days. Those were the
two important whalebone whales, Balaena mysticetus and
Balaena australis, popularly called the "right whale," be-
cause they were the " right " kind for whalers to attack.
As to the zoology of these and all other whales the reader
is referred to my friend Mr F. E. Beddard's Book of
Whales (Progressive Science Series, London, 1900), a
work from which much of the information contained in the
following pages is derived. Of the two right whales,
Balaena mysticetus is popularly known as the Greenland
whale, whilst Balaena australis was generally referred to in
Europe as the Biscay whale. The Greenland whale seems
to have confined itself to the Arctic regions and was not
hunted before the days of Arctic discovery. This was the
whale that was pursued near Greenland, Jan Mayen, Spits-
bergen, and the North Cape. The Biscay whale frequented
the wide oceans and probably was very common before
man attained facility in the craft of killing it.
Whalebone (baleen) is defined in the Ceiitury Dictionary
as "the elastic horny substance which grows in place of
teeth in the upper jaw of whales of the family Balaenidae,
forming a series of thin parallel plates from a few inches to
several feet long." It serves the purpose of a filter to
separate from the sea-water drawn into the beast's mouth
Stranded Whales 39
the tiny Pteropods and Crustacea which form its food,
called by whalers "right whale feed" or " brit." The use
of whalebone for the purpose of stiffening various female
garments was understood at an early date. The whale-
bone cut from a whale's mouth was called whale's " fins "
by the early Spitsbergen whalers. At the present day
whalebone is said to be worth about ,£2,000 a ton. It
was less valuable in the 17th century, but it was always
sought after since whaling began.
The other chief valuable product of whales was the
blubber, wherewith the body of the beast is thickly encased
just below the skin. This blubber was cut off and boiled
down into oil. The oil was chiefly used for soap-making,
as we shall hereafter see. Its earliest use. was probably for
lamp-oil.
Obviously, stranded whales were the first to be utilized
by man. Even now when the number of whales is so
greatly reduced we hear of a stranded whale in England
every few years. In old days they must have been com-
moner. Stranded whales on the Dutch shores are men-
tioned in old chronicles and records. The arrival of a
whale was regarded with apprehension by the superstitious
folk of those days. Twisck, the Dutch chronicler, writes
that "the stranding of such monstrous beasts is usually a
sign of some great event to follow 1 ." He generally asso-
ciated it with Turkish inroads into Europe. But attention
was paid to stranded whales long before his day. Thus
Diirer writes in his diary for November 1520 :
"At Zierikzee in Zeeland a whale has been stranded by a high tide and
a gale of wind. It is much more than ioo fathoms long & no man living
in Zeeland has seen one even a third as long as this. The fish cannot get off
the land. The people would gladly see it gone, as they fear the great stink,
for it is so large that they say it could not be cut in pieces and the blubber
boiled down in half a year."
On December 9th he writes : " Early on Monday we started again by ship
and went by the Veere and Zierikzee and tried to get sight of the great fish,
but the tide had carried him off again."
In 1 53 1 a whale 68 feet long and 30 feet thick was
stranded near Haarlem'-'. One was stranded in Holland in
1 Peter Janssz. Twisck, Oironijck van den Ondergaugh der Tyranneti,
Hoorn, 1619, 1620, 2 vols. 4to. Vol. 11. p. 1727.
- Twisck, II. 1039.
CH. V.
40 Early Whaling
1566. In 1577 a whale came up the Scheldt in July, and
thirteen or fourteen others were seen off the village of
Heyde in Holland on the 22nd and 23rd of November 1 .
A whale stranded at Sandvoort in 1594 was drawn by
Goltzius. J. Matham engraved one that came ashore in
1598. In Dec. 1603 a whale was killed in the Scheldt 2 .
Esaias van der Velde engraved one lying on the beach at
Noortwijk in 16 14. Another was stranded between Sche-
veningen and Katwijk on Jan. 21st, 161 7. William Buyte-
wech made a drawing and an etching of it, which are in the
Berlin Print-room 3 .
If, as seems probable, stranded whales were the first to
be killed by man, the attempt may next have been made to
drive or frighten them ashore, as is still done with white
whales. To kill whales in the sea must have been a
relatively late invention, yet it goes back to an early his-
torical date, if it be true, as Ochther, a Norwegian, told
King Alfred, towards the end of the 9th century, "that he
sailed along the Norway coast so far north as commonly
the whale-hunters used to travel." Perhaps he was only
referring to walrus-hunters. Some believe that true
whaling was known in England by the year 1000 ; if so,
it had become a lost art in the times of the Muscovy
Company, with which we are now concerned.
The whalers, par excellence, of Europe were the men of
the Bay of Biscay, especially the Basques 4 . The fishermen
of Biscay and Guipuzcoa had pursued the whales that
frequented their coasts from time immemorial. From St
Jean de Luz to Santander whaling was the chief source of
wealth. The whale finds place in local coats of arms. We
read of harpoon whaling in the 1 ith century. Of course the
use of the harpoon was no novelty. Prehistoric man took
fish with harpoons before he invented hooks. The ancient
Egyptians killed the hippopotamus with harpoons 6 . In the
13th century the King of Spain, in conceding privileges to
1 Twisck, 11. 1328. 2 Twisck, II. 1560.
3 Jalirb. d. k. Preuss. Kss. 1902, pp. 114, 115.
4 See a monograph by M. Fischer, "Cetacees du Sud-Ouest de la France,"
Actes Soc. Litn. Bordeaux, 1881. See also Sir Clements Markham, "On the
Whale Fishery of the Basque Provinces of Spain," Proceedings of the Zoological
Soc. 1 88 1, p. 969.
5 Vide Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, London, 1894, p. 240.
Basque Whalers 41
San Sebastian and other whaling ports, retained as his
share a strip of blubber from the head to the foot of every
whale taken. To the present day traces of the former
prevalence of the whaling industry are to be seen in the
remains of " virgias " or look-out towers, whence notice of
the appearance of the whales was given to the fleet of boats
ready to put out after them. The numerous "look-out"
points whose names remain on the old Spitsbergen maps
indicate the transfer of this Biscay habit to the north.
The language of whaling is full of Basque terms and names,
such as "harpoon." The very by-laws of 17th century
whaling were the old Basque customs stereotyped. Such
was the important understanding that a ''fast" fish, or one
in any way in possession, whether alive or dead, is the sole
property of the persons so maintaining the connexion or
possession. A loose fish, alive or dead, is fair game for
anyone. The custom of hoisting a Mag when a fish is
struck and all the whalers' peculiar ways were of Basque
invention.
As the Biscay whale was hunted into scarcity along the
coasts, the whalers were led to pursue their calling further
out to sea. French and Spanish Basques from the ports
all the way round the Biscay coast sailed boldly forth and
killed whales on the coast of Iceland, Newfoundland, in the
Bay of St Lawrence, and perhaps even round Greenland,
before the Muscovy Company came into existence. By
the end of the 16th century the Icelanders had joined them
and the whale-fleet of all nations in the Atlantic waters
amounted to 50 or 60 sail. In and after 1594, ships were
fitted out at Bristol 1 to take part in the Cape Breton whale
and walrus fishery, and the Grace of Bristol is recorded as
having made a specially prosperous voyage. In 1598 it is
stated that some adventurers of Hull sent whalers to Ice-
land and the North Cape and were so well rewarded that
they repeated the venture in succeeding years 2 . About the
same time some Dutch ships also took part in the North
1 In St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol, there is the rib of a Newfoundland
whale, honourably preserved (phot, in Social England, Vol. II. p. 673).
2 Elking's View of the Greenland Trade and Whale Fishery. See also
Scoresby, II. 20. In Holy Trinity Church, Hull, there are interesting monu-
ments of this period. Some are said to be to the memory of whalers, but
I have not seen them.
CH. V.
42 Basque Whalers
Cape whaling, and thereby (in 1 596 and later) gave rise to
a correspondence between the Dutch Government and that
of Denmark, which claimed a monopoly of fishing in the
Norwegian Seas'.
It is probable that Dutch and English alike in these
early whaling enterprises employed Biscay harpooners
whenever they attacked whales, but it is likewise possible
that these early so-called whaling voyages of English and
Dutch ships were really nothing more than walrus-hunting
expeditions and that no true whales were hunted by them.
At all events Barents and Hudson and the other Dutch
and English pilots and skippers who first visited the Bear
Island and Spitsbergen seas paid little attention to the
whales. They do not seem to have regarded whaling as
an industry likely to be attractive to the adventurers who
sent them forth. It was not till the walruses had been
killed out at Bear Island and till Poole in 16 10 had spent a
season in Spitsbergen and reported again the great quantity
of whales frequenting its western bays that an experi-
mental whaling expedition was decided on.
By that time the Muscovy Company's men were some-
what familiarised with Arctic conditions. Their original
fear of walruses and bears had been overcome by ex-
perience. The hunting instinct was doubtless strong in
them and they were probably eager to try issues with the
largest monsters of the deep. It was, however, fully
realized that without the help of Biscay experts, English
fishermen were unable to attack a whale. They did not
know how to set to work. If ever Englishmen had been
whalers the craft was by this time forgotten. It was the
same with the Dutch, the Danes, and the northern French.
Each nation in turn as it bewail whaling did so in the first
instance with Biscay help and under Biscay direction.
It seems that the Muscovy Company, when it decided
to adventure- on the new trade, sent Nathaniel Wright to
live among the Biscay whalers at their home and to enlist
a number of them for English service in Spitsbergen ; or
perhaps Wright was already on the spot. At all events he
was employed as recruiting agent and lived in Biscay
1 Muller, N. Co. p. 240 note.
Plans for 1611 43
fourteen years, after which time he returned to England
and became "a director and adventurer in the voyage to
Greenland" {i.e. Spitsbergen 1 ).
The plans for the expedition of 161 1 are set forth at
length in the Muscovy Company's Commissions to Jonas
Poole, "grand Pilot," and Thomas Edge, factor, printed by
Purchas. Two vessels were to be sent out, the Mary
Margaret (150 tons), Steven Bennet, master, and the
Elizabeth (50 tons) under the command of Jonas Poole, who
was to pilot both vessels. The Alary Margaret was
equipped for the whale-fishery ; and by the advice of
Woodcock, mate of the Amitie in the previous voyage, six
Biscayers, " men of Saint John de Luz," who knew how to
kill whales, were shipped. They were " to be used very
kindly and friendly during this their voyage " ; but the
English sailors were to take note how the Biscayers went
to work and "to observe and diligently put in practise the
executing of that businesse of striking the whale as well as
they," and to learn to recognise the different kinds of
whales. Why Woodcock, whose advice was thus taken,
was not himself employed does not appear. He took his
revenge by hiring himself to and piloting an interloping
ship from Hull.
Thomas Edge was sent as factor in the Mary Margaret,
but with general charge over the cargoes in both vessels.
He had already been sent twice to Bear Island by the
Company. The first time (1608) the voyage failed "by
reason of one Duppers going thither, together with certaine
men of Hull, glutting the said place," whilst the second
time was the unfavourable season of 1609. Edge is put in
mind of these losses by the Company, not that he is to
blame for them, but "to the intent to incourage and stirre
up your minde to doe your uttermost indevour to further
the businesse in this your third imployment." His Com-
mission contains the following good advice which explorers
of all times may take to heart.
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1631-33, p. 92. In the Calendar of
State Papers the word Spitsbergen seldom occurs. Throughout the 17th and
1 8th centuries that country was almost always called Greenland, a fact unknown
to the Calendar editors, who never distinguish between Spitsbergen and the
real Greenland, but include both under the one name, Greenland, in the
indexes.
CH. V.
44 Plans for 1611
" Inasmuch as industrie and diligence are two principall
steps to atchieve great enterprises, and negligence and idle-
nesse are enemies to the same ; we would have you in this
charge committed unto you, to imbrace the one, and to
avoide the other : and to shew that example of paines
taking to the rest of the company of your ship in your owne
person, as well in setting them on work, as in putting your
owne hand to the businesse when neede requireth, as that
there be no idle time spent, but that every one be imployed
in some businesse or other 1 ."
Poole in the Elizabeth, was to pilot both ships to Whales
Bay, a general name for Close Cove, Deer Sound (King's
Bay), and Sir Thomas Smith Bay (Foreland Sound).
There he was to stay "the killing of a whale, or two or
three, for your better experience hereafter to expedite that
businesse," and then to go northward for discovery. For,
says his Commission, " we are desirous not only to discover
farther to the north along the said land " — i.e. Spitsbergen,
north of Hakluyt's Headland — "to find whether the same
be an Hand or a Mayne, and which way the same doth
trend either to the eastward or to the westward of the pole,
as also whether the same be inhabited by any people, or
whether there be an open sea further northward then hath
beene alreadie discovered." In his exploration Poole was
to pick up whalebone and to kill walruses, and when the
time came for a return he was, if possible, to rejoin the
Mary Margaret. They were to boil their blubber down
either on Spitsbergen or Bear Island before sailing home,
and to this end they took out the necessary coppers, barrels,
etc. These coppers were, in fact, the forerunners of the
whaling establishments or cookeries which sprang up on
the coast of Spitsbergen a year or two later, and in the case
of Smeerenburg, grew almost to the dimensions of a town.
Finally, says the Commission, " for the avoyding of an
objection heretofore used, that the want of sufficient vic-
tuals hath beene the cause of the overthrow of the voyages
by speedier returne home then otherwise they would, wee
have thought fit to set downe the quantitie of victuals
delivered aboord your ship," which were estimated as suffi-
1 Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. III. p. 710.
The Expedition starts 45
cient to last for seven or eight months. Besides "beef,
biscuit, fish, cheese, butter, oyle, peas, oat-meal, and candles,"
they include " 14 tunnes of beer, 30 gallons of Aquavitae,
and 20 gallons of vinegar."
The expedition thus elaborately prepared proved a
disastrous failure. The ships sailed from Blackwall on the
7th of April, called at Bear Island on the 13th of May, and
anchored in Cross Road on the 29th of the same month.
Cr^ss Road (Ebeltoft Haven) was in fact the first centre
of the whale-fishery and the earliest English harbour in
Spitsbergen. It is curious that its very name should have
been forgotten (or rather transferred to the larger Close
Cove in which it lay) so that Nordenskiold thought the
haven nameless and christened it anew after a member of
his own party. Here is certainly an instance where the
old name should be revived. Poole and Edge remained in
the road till the 16th of June, setting up their "shalops " or
whale-boats and ranging the coast. Ice then drove them
to sea and sunk one of the shallops. Poole now sailed
westward along the edge of the pack 120 leagues, and
reckoned that he must be near the part of Greenland named
by Hudson Hold-with-Hope. He "saw abundance of
whales by the sides of the ice." Thence he sailed east and
made Bear Island on the 29th. On July 12th he killed
about 200 walruses there. Eleven days were spent skin-
ning and flensing them. On the 25th, seeing men on Bear
Island, he again landed and met Edge, Bennet, and in all
thirty of the Mary Margaret's crew, who had come in
three boats from Whales Bay, where their ship had been
driven ashore by ice and lost 1 . They had been compelled
to leave on the east shore of Whales Bay, doubtless in
Cove Comfortless, the blubber of some 500 walruses re-
cently killed which they were engaged in boiling down
when the accident happened. Two other shallops, contain-
ing the remainder of the Mary Margaret ' s crew, had started
with them. As afterwards appeared, they met Marma-
duke's interloping ship of Hull off Horn Sound and in-
duced him to go back with them and salvage the cargo of
the wreck.
1 The wreck doubtless took place close to, or in, the small Cove Comfortless,
now called English Bay. »%*fa»
CH. V.
Mr
i>» ...
46 The Voyage of 1 6 1 1
Meanwhile, at Bear Island, Poole landed most of his
cargo and two shallops and sailed for the wreck on the
26th. He reached Black Point, the south cape of Charles
Foreland, on the 31st, and commenced sailing up Foreland
Sound. But, relates Poole, " when I was almost through,
and in sight of that place where the Mary Margaret lyeth
sunke, I could not find water enough for the ship, yet was
I told there was enough by divers" — i.e. of the Mary
Margaret 's crew — " that had gone that way in shallops.
Here we stayed two dayes to buoy the channell, which is
shoald and narrow, for we had at three quarters floud but
eleven foot of water." This is the shallow, called the Bar,
which turned Barents back in 1596. The depth at this
point is almost exactly the same to-day, so that here at any
rate the land has not risen in the last three centuries, unless
the action of tides, storms, and ice dredges the channel and
keeps it open.
On August 3rd Poole got over and anchored by the
wreck and found there the ship Hopewell of Hull, Thomas
Marmaduke being master. Nicholas Woodcock had piloted
him up. It is stated that Marmaduke sailed "all along the
coast " of Spitsbergen this year, but did not try to kill
whales 1 . Marmaduke's men had killed 130 walruses, which
Poole had already located, intending to kill them for his
employers. Poole and Edge now landed their caldron
and blubber and set to work to boil it down into train-oil.
"Wee followed our worke till the seventh of August at
noone, at which time having Oyle by the ships side, we put
out all the blubber which was in hold, save two tuns and a
halfe, supposing the ship had balast enough in her, for
there was above twelve tuns of hides, which were the
chiefest cause of the losse of the ship, and nine tunnes
of Oyle and above seven tunnes of ballast a hogs-head and
a barrell of teeth : besides halfe a tunne of stones, all which
was about nine and twentie tunne weight, and to any
impartiall mans judgment, sufficient to shift a Barke of
sixtie tunnes. But as the last But went out of her, the
ship began to held, and withall a great many men went to
leeward, there being at that time about forty aboard. Then
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 497 (1643), No. 68.
A Ship lost 47
the hides which lay in hold slid to leeward, and brought her
altogether downe, then every man made shift to save his
life, and I being farre from the hatches, could not get up so
soone as others did. At which time I saw death before
mine eyes two waves* one if I stayed in hold, I was sure to
be drowned : the other if I went up the hatches, I was in
election to be slaine ; for downe at the hatches fell hog-
heads of beere and divers other things, the least of them
being sufficient to beate a mans bones, and in attempting
to get up, I was beaten down twice and hurt. But it was
not the will of God to take my life from mee then, but to
revive me, to plucke me even from the jawes of Death, and
by swimming and crawling I got into the Sea cleere of the
ship where a boat tooke me up, and blessed bee God, no
man perished at that so dangerous an accident. We being
all got into three boats, went to the Hull ship, where we
found but small comfort : for Duke told us plainly, wee
should not come aboard his ship and caused Billes and
launces to bee brought to keepe us out. Then Master
Edge and divers others desired him to let mee come
aboard, which hee did, and with much adoe I got aboard,
having mine head broke to the skull, and my brow that
one might see the bare bones, and by mine eare I had a
sore wound, like wise the ribs on my right side were all
broken and sore bruised, and the collar bone of my left
shoulder is broken, besides my backe was so sore, that I
could not suffer any man to touch it."
Purchas omits the remainder of Jonas Poole's story,
" being further accusation of Marmaduke " and inserts in-
stead the account written by his brother Randolph Poole,
from which it appears that Marmaduke did not behave so
badly but took all the crew on board and such of their
freight as could be saved, charging indeed five pounds a ton
to carry it to Hull, as he was surely entitled to do. All
indications tend to prove that Cove Comfortless was the
site of this accident and was probably named in memory of
it. The discoveries of the year 1611 are included in the
chart drawn by the Englishman John Daniel in 1612 and
reproduced by Hessel Gerrits of Amsterdam in 16 13.
On August 19th Marmaduke sailed for England with
99 men on board his small ship, and on the 6th of Sep-
ch. v.
4-8 The Voyage of 1612
tember they arrived off Hull, "safely and well in body, but
much distressed and impayred in our states." The only
favourable result of the voyage was the fact, of which we
are informed by Edge, that the Biscayers killed a whale
which yielded 12 tons of oil, the first "whale killed and the
first train-oil ever made in Spitsbergen. In 16 r 1, therefore,
the whale-fishery of Spitsbergen was definitely founded by
the enterprise of the Muscovy Company of London.
Far from being deterred by the misfortunes of this
voyage the Muscovy Company fitted out two larger ships
for the whale-fishery in 161 2, namely the Whale (160 tons)
and the Sea-horse (180 tons). Jonas Poole and Thomas
Edge were again employed, also one John Russell. The
harpooners were Basques as before. Edge says that
"they discovered that yeere nothing worth writing of, by
reason of some falling out betwixt Russell and Edge ; yet
they killed that yeere seventeen whales, and some sea-
horses, of which they made 180 tunnes of oyle with much
difficultie ; as not being experimented in the businesse."
The ships sailed from Blackwall on the 7th of April and
anchored off Bear Island on the 3rd of May. Thence
they sailed for Cross Road as before. Three of Poole's
men died towards the end of May, of what disease is not
stated. During the course of the voyage the English sailors
began to acquire some knowledge of how to attack the
whales.
A crew of five English and one Basque were very
successful, for " there was not one whale killed with one
boate alone, save ours, with all English save the Baske
aforesaid, which slue three without the helpe of any other
boate." This made the other Basques angry "because by
their good wills they would not have us to have any insight
into this businesse." The supply of whales appeared
unlimited. One day, writes Poole, "the whales lay so
thicke about the ship that some ran against our cables,
some against the ship, and one against the rudder. One
lay under our beake-head and slept there a long while.
At which time our carpenter had hung a stage close by the
water, whereon his tooles lay. And wee durst not molest
the said whale for feare he should have overthrowne the
stage and drowned all his tooles. In the end he went
Foreign Interlopers 49
away, and carried the ships head round, his taile being
foule of the cable."
This year, notwithstanding their charter from the Privy
Council, the Muscovy Company's ships did not have the
fishery to themselves.
" The Hollanders (to keepe their wont in following of
the English steps) came to Greenland {i.e. Spitsbergen)
with one ship being brought thither by an English man,
and not out of any knowledge of their own discoveries, but
by the direction of one Allen Sallowes 1 , a man imployed by
the Muscovia Companie in the Northerne Seas for the
space of twentie yeeres before ; who leaving his country
for debt, was entertayned by the Hollanders, and imployed
by them to bring them to Greenland for their Pylot. At
which time being met withall by the Companies Ships,
they were commanded to depart, and forbidden to haunt,
or frequent those parts any more by mee Thomas Edge.
There was also a Spanish ship from San Sebastian, brought
thither by one Nicholas Woodcocke this yeere, a man
formerly imployed by the said Companie ; which Spanish
ship made a full voyage in Green-harbour. But Woode-
cocke at his returne into England, being complained of by
the Companie, was imprisoned in the Gatehouse and Tower,
sixteene moneths, for carrying the Spanish ship thither."
The report of this successful voyage and the "full cargo"
of the Biscay ship is stated to have been the cause of the
great inroad of foreign interlopers on Spitsbergen waters
in 1 6 1 3.
The captain of the Dutch ship was Willem van Muijden
or Muijen, after whom the little bay, just outside Axel
Island, in the N. coast of Bell Sound takes its name. It
is characteristic of the blundering in Spitsbergen nomen-
clature, that this name, misspelt Van Mijen, should have
been removed from its proper place and transferred to the
1 It may be regarded as certain that Sallows took with him the Muscovy
Company's first Spitsbergen chart, which Gerrits states to have been drawn
in London in 1612 {i.e. in the winter of 1611-12), and contains the information
obtained by the expeditions of 1610 and 161 1. It was published by Hessel
Gerrits in his Histoire du pays nommi Spitsberghe. The draughtsman was
John Daniel. It is recorded in Roe's Journal (Hakluyt Soc. edition, Vol. I. p. 3)
that the East India Company's ships in 1613 used "a platte of John Danyells
making being Mercator's projection" for the voyage to the Cape.
C. CH. V. 4
50 The Voyage of 1612
large northern branch of Bell Sound, whose proper name
is Low Sound. The supercargo of the Dutchman was one
Kijn. He tried to climb a high hill on Charles Foreland
but missed his footing, fell, and broke his neck. The
south cape of the Foreland was called Kijnnaes (Kyn Ness)
after him by the Dutch, and the Foreland itself Kyn
Island. It is possible that after the Dutch had been sent
away by the English they did some exploration to the
northward ; a statement to that effect appears in the Coorte
Deductie of the Dutch Noordsche Company of 1624. An
earlier and obviously false account says that they sailed
beyond &t>° N. and found an open sea bordered by grassy
lands 1 ."
Besides the foreigners there were two English inter-
lopers, regarded by the Company's men with almost as
much hostility. They were the Diana of London, " whereof
one Thomas Bastion dwelling at Wapping Wall was Master,"
and the Hopewell of Hull, again commanded by Thomas
Marmaduke.
Poole met both vessels in Foreland Sound. Early in
June Marmaduke sailed away northward. He carried off
the post and arms set up by Barents at Fairhaven, and he
explored "as far as 82 degrees, two degress beyond Hak-
luyts Headland" according to Poole 2 . Of this exploration
we only know that Marmaduke visited Red Beach, and
that one of his men, named Laurence Prestwood, landed at
Grey Hook on August 17th and set up a cross with his
name and the date, which cross Fotherby saw in 1614 3 .
This was probably the limit of the voyage.
1 Muller, N. Co. pp. 166, 167.
2 Admiral Markham suggests that this statement is erroneous. Hudson in
the Hopewell was believed, as we have seen, to have explored up to 82 in
1607. It is not improbable that a confusion arose between the doings of the
Hopeivells. The actual fact is that Marmaduke went further than Hudson.
3 Vide Hakluyt Society's Baffin, pp. 90, 93.
CHAPTER VI.
THE TROUBLES IN 1613.
During the winter of 1612-1613 great preparations
were made, both in England and abroad, for the exploita-
tion of the new whale-fishery. The Muscovy Company,
determined if possible to secure a monopoly of it, obtained
a charter from King James I, giving them all they desired,
and excluding from the fisheries all other persons whatsoever
whether English or aliens 1 . Six different accounts of the
fishery in the summer of 161 3 have come down, enabling
us to follow the doings of almost every day. Purchas
prints a brief note by Thomas Edge and a longer journal
by William Baffin. Immediately after the return of the
fleet. Hessel Gerrits, the Amsterdam geographer, published
an important and now very rare pamphlet in French,
recounting its ill-treatment at the hands of the Company's
servants 2 . But the most picturesque account, from which
I shall quote at some length, is one existing in MS. in the
Library of the American Antiquarian Society, written (there
seems little doubt) by Robert Fotherby 3 . There exists
besides in the British Museum a MS. entitled " A briefe
Narration of the Discoverie of the Northerne Seas and the
Coasts and Countries of those parts as it was first begunn
1 Record Office Sign Man. Vol. 13, No. 10; Grant Book, pp. 117, 128
(30th March, 1613).
- Histoire du pays nonunc Spitsberghe, etc., Amsterdam, 161 3, 4to. A
translation of it is included in the present author's Spitsbergen volume, pub-
lished by the Hakluyt Society in 1904.
3 Printed in the Transactions and Collections of the American Archaeological
Society, Vol. IV. (i860), p. 285 ; and reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in a
volume entitled The Voyages of William Baffin, edited by C. R. Markham,
London, 1881, Svo.
CH. VI. 4 — 2
52 The Troubles in 1613
and continewed by the singular Industrie and charge of the
Company of Muscovie Merchants of London 1 ." This
contains an account of the events of 161 3 in Spitsbergen,
whilst a similar relation from the Dutch point of view is in
the Coorte Deductie end Remonstrantie of 1624 printed by
Muller 2 .
The English fleet consisted of seven vessels under the
command of Benjamin Joseph, "a man very sufficient and
worthy of his place." With him were associated Thomas
Marmaduke (the Hull interloper of the previous year),
William Baffin, Robert Fotherby, Thomas Edge, and
other officers. The ships were the Tiger (250 tons), which
was the Admiral and carried 21 guns 3 , the Matthew (250
tons) V ice-Admiral, the Gamaliel or Sea-Horse (200 tons)
Rear-Admiral, the Desire (180 tons), the Annula (140 tons),
the Richard and Barnard (60 tons), and the John and
Francis (180 tons). Joseph and Baffin were on board the
Tiger, Fotherby on the Matthew. The Richard and
Barnard was intended for discovery, the Tiger for pro-
tection ; all the others were for the whale-fishery. Four-
and-twenty expert Basque whalers accompanied these
vessels.
Fortified by the arguments of Grotius in his newly
published work, Mare Liberum, and stimulated by the
information acquired during the previous season by the
skipper Willem Van Muyden, the Dutch adventurers were
no whit behindhand with their preparations. The mer-
chants of Amsterdam fitted out two ships for Van Muyden,
and hired twelve Basques to serve under him, whereof
three were harpooners, three whale-boat captains, the re-
mainder experts at flensing whales and boiling down blubber 4 .
Enkhuisen sent a ship with the Englishman Thomas Bonner 5
for master and pilot, and 20 English seamen in the crew.
Zaardam despatched two sloops for walrus hunting only ;
1 Add. 14027, f. 172, and a modern copy, Add. 33837, f. 70.
2 N. Co. p. 394. See also the "Request" of the Amsterdam Adventurers
to the States General printed in Wassenaer, VIII. f. 88.
3 The Spanish writer Madoz (ix. p. 163) says that two of the English ships
were armed.
4 The master of the second Amsterdam ship was not Mossel, as stated in
Gerrits' text, but corrected in an erratum. He was Jan Jacobsz. Vrijer.
5 Gerrits calls him Bonaert.
Many foreign Interlopers 53
whilst Dunkerque hired two Dutch vessels, the larger
commanded by one Fopp, the smaller a "pincke" or pinnace 1
of Hoorn, with Claas Martin for master. Van Muyden
was provided with "a Commission granted by the Grave
Maurice for to fish in " Spitsbergen, an offset against the
Muscovy Company's charter from King James. Nor were
these all the interlopers of the year. According to Edge
there were four English vessels ; perhaps he counted in
those piloted by Sallows and Bonner. But only one
interloper is recorded as actually sailing from an English
port, the Desire of Aldborough, whose master was named
Fletcher and her supercargo Cudner of London.
Fired by accounts of the successful voyage made in
161 2 by the ship of San Sebastian, the ports of the Bay of
Biscay, old centres of the whale-fishery, likewise prepared
to claim a share in the new trade. From San Sebastian
itself went forth eight vessels, one of them the ship that
Woodcock had piloted up the previous year; St Jean de
Luz fitted out a great ship of from 700 to 800 tons, a
smaller ship, and a pinnace. Bordeaux sent the Jacques
(200 tons) with the absconding bankrupt Allen Sallows 2
for pilot. La Rochelle was represented by a ship be-
longing to Hoorn, hired on behalf of the merchant Jean
Macqui, and by "another small shippe." One of the
St Jean de Luz ships had permission from the Muscovy
Company to fish under a royalty agreement. All the
others went up to try and break down the Company's
monopoly.
The English fleet sailed from Queenborough on the
13th ot May and came in sight of the southern parts of
Spitsbergen on the 30th of the same month 3 . Proceeding
northward they spoke next day the authorized ship of
St Jean de Luz as well as Sallows' ship, but we shall come
later to the adventures of the foreigners. " Then," says
Fotherby, "we plied nearer to the shoare, and discerned the
mountains to be covered with snowe, notwithstanding, wee
1 A pinnace was a long, light, narrow vessel, with a crew of about 25 men.
Pere Fourmier believes this type of vessel to have been of Biscay origin.
2 Gerrits writes the name Silly and Selly, Baffin writes it Sallas.
3 So say both Baffin and Fotherby. Edge (as printed by Purchas III. 466)
makes them sail from Gravesend on April 26th, and reach Spitsbergen on
May 14th.
CH. VI.
54 The Troubles in 1613
had no trouble with ice all this while, as wee expected ; for it
was almost all avoided er wee came ther. Nowe wee coasted
along towards Sr Thomas Smyth's Baye, passing on the
west side of Prince Charles his Hand. ...The 1st of June
wee were becalmed on the south-west side of the Hand,
about five leagues from the shoare The 2nd of June,
haveing gotten a little more northward, and beeing on the
west side of the iland, againe becalm'd, about three leagues
distant from the shoare, I and Joh. Wilmote, one of the
master's mates, with 6 more of our sailors, went ashore in
a Biska shallop (whale-boat), purposeing to kill some deare
and some wild fowle ; and to that end wee took with us
such dogs as wee had in our ship, viz. a grewhound, a
mastiffe, and a water spaniell, and two fowleing-pieces,
with shott and powder. We landed upon a hard shingle,
comeing close to the shoare with our boat, there being no
ice to keep us off; notwithstanding upon five or six rocks,
near the shore side, there laie a great quantitie of ice, which
covered them in such sorte, that the hollowness or distances
betwixt one rock and another, appeared under the ice like
vaulted caves. After that wee were landed upon the
shingle, the ice or congealed snowe was so high upon the
shoare, that it withstood us like a strong wall, to pass anie
further ; wherefore wee wer faine one to help up another, it
beeing more than a man's height in thickness, and haveing
manie long isicles hanging in divers places. When wee
were up, and had gone about two roods, wee might per-
ceave that wee were upon the ground or sand ; yett could
not see it by reason of the snowe. Then wee did look
about if we could see any deere ; and presentlie espied one
buck, whereupon we dispersed ourselves severall waies, to
gett betwixt him and the mountaines, slipping sometimes to
the mid leg into the snowe, which, for the most part, did
beare us above. In our waie wee went over two or three
bare spots that were full of flatt stones, whereon ther grew
a certaine white mosse, which, it seems, the deare doe feed
upon at the first beginning of their somer ; for theise spotts
were full of their ordure ; and beside, wee then sawe not
any other thing for them to live on. Before that wee came
near the buck which wee first espied, wee sawe, four more
not farre from him, and two in another place, and therefore
The English Harbour 55
we hounded at the fairest heard ; but then they came all
one waie together, and (avoiding all circumstances) we
kill'd three of them, being all bucks, which wee found then
to be but pore rascles, yet verie good meat, as we presentlie
made tryall and tasted. For, finding ther (as ther is in all
places of the countreye) great store of driftwood, which
the sea bestowes on the barren land, and being also well
provided of hunter's sauce, wee made a fier and broiled
some of our venison, and did eat thereof with very good
appetites."
Next day they sailed round the Fair Foreland and
anchored in Sir Thomas Smith's Bay, that is to say in
the north end of Foreland Sound. The position of the
anchorage is not recorded. Gerrits says it was where the
ship sank in 161 2. Fotherby's account of the gale that
blew on the 19th of June proves that it was near the east
shore, for that gale was from S.S.W. He says it "was
like to have driven our ships upon the shoare ; and haveing
three dead whales floating at the sternes of our ships, wee
were glad to cut the hawsers that they were tyed in, and to
lett them drive a shoare ; because we feared that otherwise
they would have caused our ships either to break their
cables, or to haile home their anchors, and to be driven
upon the shoare." If we look for the most likely anchorage
in the direction thus indicated, we can scarcely fail to
choose the cove now known as English Bay, but whose
true and original name was " Cove Comfortlesse."
From Gerrits we learn that the English set up their
tents and coppers on both sides of the strait where they
avoyent encore le?irs loges de Panne'e passe'e. The Basques
were at once sent off in the whale-boats to Fair Foreland
and immediately killed a whale, though, according to Gerrits,
they merely stole one previously killed by an interloper.
" We presentlie began work," says Fotherby, " which we
continued (God be thanked) without any want of whales,
till our voyage was made ; not receaveing anie intermission
of rest, but onlie on the Saboth daie. For when some slept,
others wrought ; and haveing a continual daie, wee alowed
no time of night for all men to sleepe at once, but our
men receaved no other recreation from work and sleep, but
onlie the time of eateing their meat, whereof they had
CH. VI.
56 The Troubles in 1613
sufficient, thrice in every 24 howers." While the crews
were thus employed Fotherby made one or two expeditions
to fetch wood and to prospect for walrus. Once when
they were towing a big piece of timber behind their boat
"there came five or six morses swimming hard by us and
about us ; some of them coming so near the sterne of the
bote that we called for our launces, purposing to strike
them. They would, divers times, laie their teeth upon the
tree which we towed (as it were scratching the wood with
their teeth), but wee still rowed awaie and at length they
left us." During the season they killed at this place "verie
fewe deare, notwithstanding ther have been slaine in this
country, this voyage, about 400 deare. Wee kil'd very
few morses, by reason the whales came so fast, that wee
could not have a fitt opportunity to goe about that buisines
We killed also good store of wild fowle Wee
caught manie young foxes, which wee made as tame and
familiar as spaniell-whelpes On the 24th of June the
Matthew began to take in hir ladeing, and was fully
freighted the 6th of July with 184 tonnes of oyle, and
5000 finnes." On the 8th of July she and the Richard
and Barnard (likewise laden) sailed with the Tiger for Bell
Sound on their way home. The Desire joined them there
and sailed with them on the 31st, leaving the other four
vessels to follow.
Whilst the Matthew was at anchor in Joseph (Recherche)
Bay Fotherby made the first recorded glacier expedition in
Spitsbergen. "Purposing," he writes, "to walk towards
the mountaines, I, and two more of my companie, ascended
up a long plaine hill, as wee supposed it to be " — it was
probably the Fox glacier — "but having gon a while upon
it, wee perceved higher up, about the length of half a
mile, and as we went, manie deepe rifts or gutters {i.e.
crevasses) on the land of ice, which were crackt downe
thorowe to the ground, or, at the least, an exceeding great
depth ; as we might well perceive by heareing the snowe
water run belowe, as it does oftentimes, in a brook whose
current is somewhat opposed with little stones. But for
better satisfaction, I brake down some peeces of ice with a
staffe I had in my hand, which, in their falling made a
noise on each side, much like to a peice of glasse throwen
A Glacier Expedition 57
downe the well within Dover Castle, wherby wee did
estimate the thicknes or height of this ice to be thirty
fathomes. This huge ice, in my opinion, is nothing but
snowe, which from time to time has, for the most part bene
driven off the mountaines; and so continueing and increasing
all the time of winter (which may be counted three quarters
of the yeare), cannot possiblie be consumed with the thawe
of so short a sommer, but is onelie a little dissolved to
moisture, whereby it becomes more compact, and with the
quick succeeding frost is congealed to a firme ice. And
thus it is like still to encrease, as (I think) it hath done
since the world's creation."
The English ships that at their first arrival had
anchored in Sir Thomas Smith's Bay were the Tiger, the
Matthew, the Annula, and the John and Francis. The
Gamaliel, the Desire, and the Richard and Barnard made
their rendezvous at Ice Sound, where they first put into the
bay which in that or the previous year was named by the
Dutch Behouden (safe) Haven 1 , whilst the English called it
Niches Cove, Port Nick, and Poopy Bay indifferently. On
the 9th of June these ships crossed to Green Harbour,
where most of them " made their voyage." The Tiger at
once set to work on her business as police ship. At Fair
Foreland she captured a Dunkerque whale-boat with two
Englishmen and one Scot on board, who were promptly
impressed into the Company's service. Then (June 5th) she
sailed away and "did continue as a wafter alongst the coast
till the 27th of June," says Fotherby, "and then he came
to us againe into Sir Thomas Smyth's Baye. In which time
of his absence he had mett with 17 ships, viz., 4 of Holland,
2 of Dunkerk, 4 of St John de Luz, and 7 of San Sebastian.
The commanders of all those ships had submitted to our
general ; and were content either to departe out of the
country, or els to staie upon such condicions as he pro-
pounded unto them."
We now proceed to disentangle from the four narra-
tives the adventures and troubles of these foreign ships.
Gerrits says that the two Amsterdam ships, piloted by
Willem Van Muyden, were the first to arrive and that they
1 Possibly with reference to the fact that the Biscay ship made a full cargo
there in 1611 notwithstanding the English.
CH. VI.
58 The Troubles in 1613
were found by the English in Sir Thomas Smith's Bay 1 .
The English narratives however precisely state that it was
in Niches Cove on the 6th of June that the Tiger found
them and two other ships. Notwithstanding " Grave
Maurice's Commission" Joseph ordered them away and
they promised " that they would depart this coast, having
our general's ticket to show to their adventurers that they
were there, and had made their port, and how he would not
suffer them to fish." On the 9th of June they were in
Green Harbour, on the 10th the Tiger saw them again
riding at anchor in the entrance of Low Sound, that is to
say at the anchorage outside Axel Island in the north
coast of Bell Sound, which for 200 years afterwards was
known, and ought still to be known, as Willem Van
Muyden Haven. The Tiger, being then alone, appears to
have felt unequal to tackling the two ships, so left them for
the time. The Dutch presently crossed to the fine bay
opposite, to which they gave the name Schoonhoven, while
the English called it Joseph Bay after their admiral 2 . Van
Muyden determined to hold this bay against all comers,
but the 800 ton ship of St Jean de Luz, presently coming in
he thought better of it, and, as the Spanish captain
afterwards related, " insulted over him, and would not
suffer him to fish for the whale but upon such condicions
as they propounded unto him, namely, that the Hollanders
having but 3 shallops, and he 7 furnished with whale
strikers, they should all joine together ; and the Hollanders
not onlie to have the one-half of all the whales that should
be kil'd, but also to have the first whale that was stricken
wholie to themselves, over and besides the half of the rest.
And he further tould the general (Joseph) that the Hol-
landers would have persuaded him to combine with them
against us, and to beate us out of the countrye." Here
accordingly, in Joseph Bay, the Dutch and Biscay ships 3
1 According to the Coorte Deductie one went to Bell Sound, the other to
Horn Sound ; this was not strictly true.
2 It is now commonly called Recherche Bay.
3 There was a little Biscayer as well as the big one, and "a Flemish flie
boat" (one of the Zaardam boats, perhaps), "besides another little pinace of
St John de Luz which was on the east side of the iland (now Eders 1.) within
Lord Elesmere Baye." Lord Elesmere Bay is therefore the original name of
the south-east branch of Bell Sound. At that time, according to Gerrits, it was
Van Muyden overpowered 59
were found on the 1 ith of July by the Tiger, the Matthew
and the Richard and Barnard, the last two being on their
way home. The Michael de Aristega, says Fotherby,
" seemed unto us to be a verie great ship, as indeed she
was " ; the two Dutchmen " seemed also to be good stowt
ships. And therefore wee, supposing them to be such as
would withstand us, resolved to feight with them, and made
spedie preparation accord inglie hanging our waist-cloths
and clearing our decks, that the ordnance might have room
to plaie ; and made readie all our munition, ech one ad-
dressing himself with a forward resolucion to perform a
man's parte so well as he could. This was about 9 o'clock,
before the time of midnight, the sunne shining very bright,
and the aire being very cleare, and so calme that wee
caused ye saylers with boats and shallops to rowe ahead of
our ships, and towe them into the harbour. When wee
came neare them, the captain of the great ship whose name
was Michael de Aristega (his ship being of St John de Luz,
of burthen 800 tonnes), came in a shallop abord our admirall,
submitting himself and his goods unto our generall, and
tould him " the above story as to how he had been handled
by Van Muyden. "Then the generall willed him to goe
aboard againe of his own ship, and keepe his men in quiet-
ness and he would deale well enough with the Hollanders.
So, passing further on, they were knowen to be 2 ships of
Amsterdam, which our admirall had formerlie met withall,
and dischardged to staie in ye country. Then, comeing by
close to them, our admirall anchored on one side of them
and our vice-admirall on the other ; but they, as men
unwilling to be deprived of the ritches they had gotten,
although unable by force to hold them, kept out their
flags — the one in the maine-top, and the other in the fore-
top, as admirall and vice-admirall. Then our generall
commanded the maisters to come aboard his ship, which
they doeing, he chardged them with the breach of their
promise formerlie made unto him — viz., that they would
known to the Basques as "la baye des Franchoys a cause qui celle nation y
estoit la plus part." The Dutch whalers called it Zaardam Bay. The modern
chart-name Van Keulen Bay is wrong. It first appears on Giles and Rep's
big chart (of after 1707), where, as Van Keulen's Baaytje, it is applied to
a minor bay in the N. coast of Zaardam Bay (which is there wrongly named
Michiel Ryners Rivier).
CH. VI.
60 The Troubles in 1613
departe out of the country. Then, after some other
speeches, he, not finding them willing to resigne the goods
they had gotten — as whale oil and finnes — tould them that
they must not think to carrie anie of it awaie, seeing that
they did so sleightlie esteeme the King's ma'ties grant
formerlie shewed them ; therefore, he bad them go again e
to their own ships, and they should have half an hower's
space to consider and advise with themselves what to doe ;
and if they thought fitt to give him further answer before
the glasse were runne out, then good it were ; otherwise, if
they would not then yield their goods, he would feight with
them for them. So ech of them went aboard his own ship,
and, without anie long deliberation caused their flags to be
taken in ; and retourning to our generall, yielded their
goods to our disposing. Nowe, although it was intended
that our two laded ships should go presentlie for England,
notwithstanding it was thought fitting not to leave our
admirall alone amongst his offended neighbours ; and there-
fore, wee staied till the two Hollanders were gon, who
(being dispossessed of some oile and finnes they had
alreadie stowed in their ships, and also of some dead
whales that were floateing at their ship's side) 1 went forth
of harbour one of them the 15th and the other the 18th
of July."
Van Muyden still hung about the coast of Spitsbergen,
and sent his shallops ashore to pick up what they could.
In all they had the good luck to acquire 400 "beards"
of whalebone drifted up on the beach. But bad luck
pursued him, for one day six of his men thus landing at
high water, " made fast their shallop, and so left her, safe
enough, as they supposed, and went up into the land ; but
when the water fell againe, the shallop was splitt upon a
rock." A second crew sent to seek the first found them,
but in the thick and stormy weather that followed could
not again find the ship, so that Van Muyden sailed home
without them. The abandoned crew of eleven men lived
for eight clays on two bucks and a bear which they killed
with their last ammunition. They then fortunately found
the Desire sailing homeward.
1 Gerrits says that Joseph took i8| whales from Van Muyden, and gave him
as a present 20 pipes of oil and 21 "beards" of whalebone.
Bonner s Misfortunes 61
The story is thus related 1 in a contemporary letter,
from Sir Thomas Smith to Lord Rochester. "Our shipps
in their retourne found a Shallop with eleven men in her
which did belong to the Admiral of the Dutch fleet, which
lost their shipp in a fogg and were wandering up and downe
eleven dayes haveing only two days victuall when they
departed from their shipp, and being at the pointe of death
by famishing, our men tooke them in and saved their lives,
and brought hither to London and have given them mony
to transport them in to their owne Countrie."
Thomas Bonner, the English pilot of the Enkhuizen
ship, was no more fortunate than Van Muyden. To begin
with he left six men to kill walruses on Bear Island, but
during the whole season they only killed one. Then the
Tiger found him on June 13th along with three or four
other ships at anchor in Boules Bay 2 of Horn Sound.
Joseph sent for Bonner to come aboard, but he refused
to do so. "Our generall," says Baffin, "commanded our
Qunner to shoot at him, he himself discharging the second
ordnance. Then presently he began to set saile, and cut
his cable thinking to get from us ; but wee having shot him
through three or foure times, they began to weare us, so
we sent our shallop and he came aboord. There were five
or sixe more of the English men fetched aboord, and some
of our men sent to bring her to an anchor, where she might
ride safe, for shee was almost run ashoare. Next day the
ship was taken over and kept for the use of the Com-
panie .
The Dutch account states that the English used the
tent and equipment of the Dutch ship, and lading the ship,
took her to England with them and only there set her free.
It seems that Marmaduke was put in command of her and
1 State Papers, Dojnestic, James I, Vol. XL. No. 38, p. 534.
2 Later called Goose Haven.
3 Quite naturally Bonner did not go home with any very favourable
reminiscences of Spitsbergen. Chance has preserved a fragment of a letter
written by him to his father, in which he says, "This is the worst and coldest
region of the world, everywhere cliffs, mountains and rocks. The quantity of
water pouring over the land is such that the footprints of man are obliterated.
The amount of ice is enormous and the ice-mountains so many that they seem
to have been accumulating even ever since the birth of Christ. The abundance
of snow surpasses belief," etc. This passage, translated into Latin, is printed
by Hessel Gerrits in his Dctectio Freti. Amsterdam, 1613, 4to.
CH. VI.
62 The Troubles in 1613
sent northward to explore, but on the 9th of August he
came into Bell Sound not having been beyond Fairhaven.
He was then intending to go round the South Cape and
explore eastward. Joseph "told him that he had hindered
the voyage more by his absence than his discoverie would
profit ; and that it were best that he went back with him
to the Foreland, and that he would give no licence to go
now for discoverie, because the yeare was far spent ; but
bad him, according to his commission, so to proceede."
The statement by Edge that "this yeare was Hope Hand
and other Hands discovered to the eastward by the Com-
panie," seems to prove that Marmaduke went his way in
spite of Joseph ; at all events his own ship did not remain
or sail home with the others, though the captured Dutch
ship did.
The rest of the foreign ships may be dealt with more
briefly. One of the Zaardam sloops was compelled to serve
as tender to the English ships in Sir Thomas Smith's Bay.
She was sent about to fetch drift-wood and to carry oil
from the shore to the ships. For this service she received
some barrels of oil and " beards " of whalebone as pay.
The second Zaardam ship was the only Dutch vessel that
made a voyage, and returned to Holland with her cargo 1 .
From the two Dunkerque ships the Englishmen in the
crew were pressed, the larger ship was sent straight home,
while the smaller was given a job in Horn Sound. Here
her crew mutinied and sailed for Norway, but ultimately
they were overpowered by their officers, and on arrival at
Dunkerque were given into the hands of justice.
The fortune of the Biscay ships was less uniformly bad.
All the San Sebastian vessels, variously estimated at 5, 7,
and 8 in number, were sent straight home. Among them
was the ship that Woodcock had piloted up the previous
year ; she arrived at Spitsbergen from Greenland, where
she had lost six men and a boat on an island in latitude 72°.
Two of the four St Jean de Luz ships were allowed to fish
on condition that they only kept half the oil they made.
In the case of the big ship commanded by Michael de
Aristega, Gerrits says that this arrangement was revoked,
1 Wassenaer, Hist. Verh. VIII. 88.
The Hull Bonny Boat 63
but the English accounts are silent on the matter. The
Rochelle ships seem to have been sent home empty but
some men remained in Green Harbour ; for it is recorded
that, on July 25th, two Rochellers, "for pilfering and for
some peremptorie speeches, were ducked at our yard arme,
the one on the one side, and the other on the other." The
Jacques of Bordeaux, with Allen Sallows for pilot, was
permitted to fish in Green Harbour on these terms, that
he might keep any whales he killed after the first eight.
In the result he killed twelve. Gerrits says that all of
them were confiscated, and that even the sailors' clothes
were taken from them and they beaten into the bargain,
but Baffin says the arrangement was faithfully carried out.
At all events this ship sailed home in company with the
Tiger.
Of the English interloper, the Desire of Aldborough,
there is little to say. She visited Bear Island and took off
the six men left there by Bonner, and she was afterwards
spoken off Cape Cold by the home-going fleet of the
Company. Fletcher, her master, then stated that "they
had made but a bad voyage of fish," and that they were in
fact on their way to Sir Thomas Smith's Bay to see whether
the Company could freight them home.
There must also have been a Hull interloper in Spits-
bergen waters this year, for in the Trinity House at Hull
a shallop, called the Bonny Boat, is still carefully pre-
served, which is said to have been found and brought home
from the Arctic regions this year, 161 3, by Captain Andrew
Barker. Can it be that after the other whalers had gone
home, leaving their stuff behind on the shore for next
season, Captain Barker appropriated this boat and carried
it home as a trophy ?
All the ships seem ultimately to have reached their
respective ports in safety. The English brought home
a live reindeer to present to the King. Edge says that
the Company would have made three or four thousand
pounds more profit if their ships had not wasted their time
chasing the foreigners. Gerrits, on the contrary, states that
the Company's profits amounted to " une richesse incroy-
able." Naturally the foreign adventurers were much dis-
gusted with the treatment their ships had received. They
CH. VI.
f
64 The Troubles in 1613
complained, says the Mercure franpois 1 , "au Senat qui
leur donna des lettres de recommandation au roy de la
Grand' Bretaigne, ou ils envoyerent pour tascher de r'avoir
ce qui leur avoit este oste. Mais ils trouverent ce vieux
Proverbe veritable que qui est le plus fort est le maistre de
la mer ; que telles gens ne prennent jamais pour rendre.
Tellement qu'ils n'en eurent d'autres raisons ; ce qui les fit
resoudre qu'aux voyages qu'ils feroient au Groenland' J , d'y
aller forts afrm de se defendre des Anglois qui les attaque-
roient et se venger de l'injure recue."
The news of the events of the season created some
stir in Europe. The Dutch sent envoys to England to
make protests and reclamations. The famous Hugo
Grotius was one of them. The Muscovy Company re-
fused satisfaction and resolved to defend their monopoly
by force 3 . It was at this time that Hessel Gerrits, the
active promoter of nautical enterprise at Amsterdam, pub-
lished the controversial pamphlet already alluded to. The
controversy was thus formally begun which was destined to
drag itself on for more than half a century and to obtain
solution, not at the hands of diplomatists, but by process of
events.
1 Mercure francois, 1613, deuxieme continuation, pp. 180, 181, quoted by
E. T. Hamy, Les Francois au Spitsberg {Bull, de ge'ogr. hist, et descr.),
Paris, 1895, 8 vo - P- J 4-
2 Spitsbergen.
3 Letter of Chamberlain to Carlton (27th Oct. 1613), Calendar of State
Papers, Domestic, 1611-18, p. 203. P. Jz. Twisck's Chronijck (Hoorn, 1620),
4to. Vol. II. p. 1675.
CHAPTER VII.
THE EVENTS OF 1614.
Impelled by the necessity for mutual cooperation and
support, the various Dutch adventurers of Amsterdam, Zaar-
dam, Enkhuizen,and Hoorn laid aside their mutual jealousies
and agreed that, in order to make head against the English
and establish their right to whale in the Spitsbergen bays
and waters, they must unite into a single powerful company
and obtain the help of the States Government. To begin
with, the two separate Amsterdam partnerships united into
one company on January 27th, 16 14, and applied to the
States General for a monopoly, which was straightway
granted to them for the three following summer seasons 1 .
Thereby the Noordsche Compagnie was founded. It was
formed by the union of Chambers representing Amsterdam,
Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and Zaardam. Later
on other Chambers were added. The object of the mono-
poly was to force all the Dutch whalers into one company,
for any that remained outside would be forbidden to fish.
The English endeavoured to checkmate this opposition by
formally annexing Spitsbergen, which they wrongly though
perhaps ignorantly claimed by right of first discovery.
On April 12th the Muscovy Company obtained an
Order in Council 2 , again approving their enterprise and
granting them permission to defend themselves if attacked
and to uphold the King's right to Spitsbergen. We shall
consequently find the Company's servants busy in the
following season setting up the King's arms and going
through elaborate ceremonies of taking possession. There
1 See the charter in Zorgdrager (German edition), p. 205.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add. 1 580-1625, p. 539.
c. CH. VII. c
66 Events in 1614
was activity of preparation everywhere, for on the events
of the following season the future of the fishery was likely
to depend.
As the season of 16 14 approached both English and
Dutch made great preparations for the fishery. The Dutch
whaling fleet of fourteen ships was protected by a convoy of
three or four States men-of-war, " Ships with thirtie pieces
of Ordanance a piece." Two of these ships were sent for
discovery, and came home with fine tales of their doings,
as we shall see presently. The Admiral of the Dutch fleet
was Hillebrant Gerbrantsz. Ouast ; the Commissary General
was Anthoni Monier 1 .
From the instructions given to the admiral by the
States General 2 we learn that the Dutch fleet was to
rendezvous at the Shetlands on May 12th, and sail thence
in company to the fishery. They were ordered not to
attack any foreign whalers, but if attempts were made by
any to hinder them in their own fishing they were em-
powered to resist by force.
The English fleet this year numbered only " eleven
ships of good burthen and two pinnasses," under the
command of Benjamin Joseph and Thomas Edge 3 . Two
of the English ships were intended for discovery and to
take possession of lands and harbours. One of these was
the Thomasine, whereof T. Sherwin was master, W. Baffin
pilot, and R. Fotherby master's mate ; the other was the
Heartsease of Hull, under the command of the famous
Thomas Marmaduke. The only accounts of the voyage
we possess refer to the doings of the Thomasine 4 '. We hear
little of the other ships. One went to Bell Sound, four to
the bays near the Foreland, in that year no longer collec-
tively called Whales Bay, but each separately designated.
Two settled in the south harbour of Fairhaven, and set up
their coppers on the shore. Later on four of the English
ships were sent to the eastward of the South Cape, where
1 After whom Monier's Bay was named ; Fotherby this year named it
Red-cliff Sound. It is now commonly called Red Bay.
2 Printed in Muller's N. Co., p. 370.
3 Thus Fotherby states in his log. Edge says "13 great ships and
2 pinnasses," but he is clearly wrong.
4 See Purchas ill. p. 720, and the Hakluyt Society's Baffin, pp. 80-102, for
Fotherby's log. Edge's abstract is in Purchas in. p. 466.
An Agreement made 67
they discovered some islands, but nothing else is known
about their doings. Purchas possessed their journal and
intended to print it, but unfortunately failed to do so.
The fact was that the year was very unfavourable. The
northern harbours were blocked with ice all the season,
and many whales were lost under it. The whales were
late in arriving at the Foreland. This, rather than the
presence of the Dutch, diminished the success of the
voyage. The icy Arctic summer of 1614 succeeded a
winter that, in England at any rate, was unusually cold
and snowy. It was the coldest there had been for some
34 years 1 .
On June 23rd Joseph and Monier signed an agreement 2
in Bell Sound, which was the station of the English
commander, whereby English and Dutch agreed to a
modus Vivendi for that season. By this agreement the
Dutch engaged to clear out of Bell Sound, Ice Sound, Fair
Foreland {i.e. Sir T. Smith's Bay, and Cross Road), and
Fairhaven. These four harbours were recognised as English
stations. The Dutch were to be allowed to settle in any
other harbour to the south or north, provided they did not
find it to be already occupied by English ships. Both
captains agreed to assist one another in driving aw r ay inter-
lopers of other nations. It is stated twice over that the
arrangement was made for this year 161 4. We shall here-
after find the Dutch claiming that the arrangement was
intended to be permanent. On it they based their claim to
settle in Horn Sound in 161 7, and both in Bell and Horn
Sounds in 1618.
In consequence of this bargain the Dutch went to
Horn Sound and to the north, where they anchored off
Amsterdam Island in what was then called "the north
harbour," to distinguish it from Fairhaven, or "south
harbour," which the English occupied. In modern times
the name Fairhaven has generally been used for the
anchorages near Vogelsang and the Norways. The early
1 See a pamphlet entitled "The Cold Yeare 1614. A Deepe Snow in which
men and cattell have perished,'' etc. London, 161 5 ; reprinted in R. Triphook's
Miscellanea Antigua Anglicana. London, 1816, 4to.
2 The terms of the agreement are printed in Wassenaer, Historisch Verhael.
VIII. ff. 94, 95.
CH. VII. 5 — 2
68 Events in 1614
English use of it was for Mauritius or Dutch Bay in general,
but especially for the South Gat or English Bay.
When, in 16 14, Dutch and English began whaling in the
north and south parts of Fairhaven respectively, the shores
were as yet unencumbered by any of the works of man.
Each set of whalers anchored in some convenient place,
as near a level beach as possible, and "set up their
shallops," or, as we should say, launched their whale-boats.
When the whales came in, the bay was full of them. As
soon as a whale was killed, it was towed ashore and flensed,
and the blubber was there and then boiled down into train-
oil in a copper on shore. All that was needed was a big
copper caldron, some wooden vats or coolers, and the
necessary barrels for holding the finished product. The
English caldron was set up probably near the south-east
point of Danes Island, the Dutch caldron on the south-east
point of Amsterdam Island. The work completed, the
coppers were taken on board again and carried home.
It soon became apparent that to carry out and home all the
equipment for whaling and blubber-boiling every year was
a labour that might be avoided if a safe place could be
found for leaving it. Hence the need for some fixed
establishment on shore which should be recognised as
private property. The English appear to have had some
such place in Cove Comfortless, or near Fair Foreland.
The Dutch tried to build a hut themselves in Bell Sound,
but the English pulled it down. Ultimately the Dutch
decided upon the flat at Amsterdam Island for their base,
and about 161 7 they built one or two huts there. In these
they left their whaling tackle. They set up their coppers
in a permanent fashion on a brick foundation, with a brick
fireplace beneath and a chimney for the smoke. A large
warehouse was soon found necessary, not merely for storing
the surplus of train-oil which they were unable to carry
away in their full-laden ships, but to be a working-place
for the coopers, whose work could not be well done in the
open air in rainy weather. The men working on shore
also needed sleeping and feeding rooms, and a cooking-
place. These buildings were always called "tents," a
proof that in the earliest years of the fishery actual canvas
tents were all that were employed, as in fact we see in the
The Site of Smeereiiburg 69
rough drawings illustrating Fotherby's MS. account of his
voyage to Spitsbergen in 161 3.
Thus in 1614 the Dutch for the first time appropriated
the site afterwards occupied by their great whaling station,
SmeerenburCT ; for the shore in the north harbour most
O
suitable for the operations of flensing and boiling down
blubber was the flat spit that runs south-eastward from the
hilly centre of Amsterdam Island. The name, Amsterdam
Island, was probably given this year, and the ships that
anchored there were doubtless those of the Dutch fleet,
sent out by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Noordsche
Company ; for afterwards an unsuccessful attempt was made
to restrict the use of this harbour to Amsterdam ships only,
on the ground of prior occupation.
Dunkerque sent out several ships in 16 14, but where
they went or what they did we know not 1 . Biscay ships
also came up, but Fotherby only mentions one as sighted
off Magdalena Bay. Both English and Dutch chased other
nations' interlopers away when they could. It is not
improbable that the Biscay whalers, being much more
expert than Dutch or English, and accustomed to taking
whales far from the shore, were not so tied to the coast as
their opponents. If they took whales in the open sea, as
the Dutch learned to do a few years later, it is natural that
little should be heard about them in Dutch and English
logs. It was a sailor of Cibourre who invented the
dangerous method of boiling down blubber on board ship
by building a furnace on deck (le second ponl), and using
the "fritters" or residuum of the first boiling as fuel for the
second 2 .
Baffin and Fotherby, in accordance with their instructions,
set up the King's arms at Magdalena Bay, Hakluyt's Head-
land, Red-cliff Sound, Point Welcome, and the E. point of
Red Beach. They appear to have proceeded with much
ceremony. Thus in the little cove behind the island in
the south side of Magdalena Bay, Fotherby "caused a
crosse to be set up, and the kings armes to be nayled
thereon, under which also I nayled a piece of sheet lead,
1 P. Fauconnier, Description historiqice de Dunkerque. Bruges, 1760, fol.
Vol. 1. pp. 121, 122.
2 Hamy, p. 16 ; Hakluyt Society, Martens, p. 130.
CH. VII.
70 Events in 1614
whereon I set the Moscovie Companies marke, with the
day of the moneth and yeare of our Lord. Then, cutting
up a piece of earth, which afterward I carried aboard our
ship, I took it into my hand and said, in the hearing of the
men there present, to this effect : ' I take this piece of
earth, as a signe of lawfull possession of this countrey of
King James his New-land, and of this particular place,
which I name Trinitie Harbour, taken on the behalfe of
the company of merchants called the merchants of New
Trades and Discoveries 1 , for the use of our Sovereigne
Lord James, by the Grace of God King of Great Brittaine,
France, and Ireland, whose royall armes are here set up, to
the end that all people who shall here arrive may take
notice of his maiesties right and title to this countrey, and
to every part thereof. God save King James 2 .' ' Need-
less to say, the name thus formally given has disappeared
from the maps. The latest Admiralty chart names this
harbour English Cove. A similar ceremonial was per-
formed on Hakluyt's Headland.
The Spaniards performed this kind of function in more
elaborate fashion. Thus on November 22nd, 1597, Pedro
Sarmiento went on shore at Port Rosario, in Magellan
Straits, and hoisted a great cross, when "all worshipped
it with much devotion, and sang Te Deiim Laudamus
in loud voices, on their knees. With great joy they
gave thanks to God, knowing the mercies we had received
at His divine hands. This done, the Captain Superior,
Pedro Sarmiento, rose to his feet, and drawing a sword
which hung to his belt, he exclaimed in a loud voice, in
the presence of all, that they were all witnesses how, in
the name of the sacred Catholic and royal Majesty of
the King, Don Philip our Lord, King of Castille and its
dependencies and in the name of his heirs and successors,
he took possession of that land for ever. In testimony of
this, and that those present might keep it in memory, he
cut trees, branches, and herbs with the sword he held in
his hand, and moved stones, with which he made a heap in
token of possession." A procession was then formed,
1 The formal name of what was popularly known as the Muscovy Company.
2 C. R. Markham, Pedro Sarmiento. London (Hakluyt Society), 1895, 8vo.
p. 41.
Efforts at Annexation 71
Sarmiento carrying the cross, troops following in battle
array, monks singing a litany. The cross was planted on a
high rock, prayers offered, Vexilla Regis sung, mass said,
and a sermon preached. Finally, a great tree was felled
and a big cross made and set up as a memorial.
The explorers made several attempts to push round
the north-west corner of Spitsbergen, but were foiled by the
ice which was packed down upon the north coast. More
than once they visited the islands Vogelsang and Cloven
Cliff, called by them Cape Barren and the Saddle. Baffin,
indeed, reached the entrance of Red-cliff Bay and set up
the King's arms, but could get no further. A few days
later he returned there with Fotherby "purposing (because
the ayre was very cleere) to goe upon some high mountaine,
from whence we might see how the sea was pestered with
ice, and what likelihood there was of further proceeding.
According to this our intent, we ascended a very high hill,
and from thence we saw the ice lye upon the sea so farre
as we could discerne, so that the sea seemed to be wholly
toured with ice, save onely to the eastwards ; we thought
that we saw the water beyond the ice, which put us in some
hope that we should ere long get passage with our shallops
along the shore, if we could not passe with our shippe."
On the 14th of July they returned again, and this time, by
crossing the ice, succeeded in landing on Red Beach, where
they hoped to find stranded whalebone, but did not, for
Marmaduke had been there, in 1612, and gathered it all
up. Not being able to proceed further they returned to
their ship in Fairhaven, a plan of which Fotherby drew,
but Purchas unfortunately omitted it.
At length, on the 1st of August, the ice opened a little,
so Baffin and Fotherby again started off with two boats
and came to Red Beach. "We resolved," says Fotherby,
'to walke over land to the other side of the beach, where
we saw a hill about foure miles distant, from which we thought
we should be satisfied how much further it was possible for
us to proceede ; so thither we travailed, where, when we
came, we saw a very faire sound (Wiches Sound, now
Liefde Bay) on the east side of the beach which was open
within ; but there lay very much ice at the entrance of it,
which, although it was extended more than halfe over the
CH. VII.
72 Events in 1614
sound, yet we doubted not but if we could get our shallops
about the beach, we should finde either one way or other
to passe over the said sound, and from the high land on the
other side {i.e. the hills S. of Grey Hook) we should
receive very good satisfaction, if the weather continued
faire and cleare as now it was, therefore we intended to
make triall what we might do ; but before we returned
we went down to the point of the beach [i.e. to the point
now wrongly called Welcome Point) at the entrance of the
Sound, and there set up a cross, and nailed a sixpence
thereon with the Kings armes."
Returning to their boats they presently brought them
through the ice and across Liefde Bay. Landing on its east
shore " Master Baffin and I clambered up a very high hill,
from whence we saw a point of land (Castlins Point, now
Verlegen Hook) bearing E.N.-E. by the ordinary compasse,
eighteene or twenty (really nine) leagues distant, as I sup-
posed. We likewise saw another faire sound (Sir Thomas
Smith's Inlet, now Wijde Bay) to the southwards of us,
which was much pestered with ice, but we could not see
the end of it. Here, upon the mountaine, we set up a
warelocke 1 , and then came down againe with lesse labour
but more danger then we had in getting up, by reason of
the steepinesse thereof."
At Grey Hook they met a boat of Marmaduke's, whose
crew "were setting up a crosse, which they said that they
found there fallen downe, and had been formerly set up,
in the time of Master Marmaduke's first discovery by
one Laurence Prestwood, whose name I saw thereon
engraven, with two or three names more, and it had the
date of the 17th of August 1612 2 . Upon this crosse they
nailed the Kings armes." The explorers pushed on in their
boats round Grey Hook till the ice stopped them. They
landed on the west shore of Wijde Bay and walked a
league along it to "the point of a sandie beach that shot
into the sound, which was wonderfully stored with drift-
wood in great abundance." Hence they saw to the head
of the sound about ten leagues away. Unable to proceed
further eastward they returned, not without some danger,
1 Doubtless a stone-man or cairn. - See above, p. 50.
Fotherby s Exploration 73
to the Thomasine in Fairhaven. A few days later another
expedition was made, but bad weather frustrated it.
" On August 14th," says Fotherby, " was the land, both
mountaynes and plaines, wholly covered with snow, so that
almost all mens mindes were possessed with a desire of
returning for England." But Fotherby obtained leave to
make another attempt, and rowed off with one boat to Red
Beach. Gales, fog, and snow-storms drove them into Wijde
Bay "and put us from the place where we wished to be.
The thicke snowie weather continued all this time, which
was very uncomfortable to us all, but especially to the men
that rowed ; and as the snow was noysome to their bodies,
so did it also begin to astonish their mindes." They
continued for eighteen hours amongst the ice, during all
which time the snow fell, so they had to return toward
their ship. An easterly gale blew them from the N.E.
extremity of Red Beach across Broad Bay "to Point
Welcome (which I so named because it is a place where
wee often times rested when wee went forth in our
shallops 1 )." The Dutch had recently been here and had
set up Prince Maurice's arms near Fotherby 's cross, from
which they had carried off the English sixpenny-piece.
The sailors pulled down the Dutch arms, while Fotherby
was climbing a hill, and nailed up "the Kings armes cast in
lead."
Starting again, they explored Red-cliff Sound and
found, about two leagues within it, on the east side, a good
harbour. Fotherby landed and walked "two miles over
stonie mountaynes... to bee satisfied concerning a point of
land that shot into the Sound, whether it were an Hand or
no, as by all likelihood it seemed to be : but when I came
to the farthest part of it, I saw it joyne the mayne land,
wherefore I called it Point Deceit, because it deceived mee
so much." On the 19th of August they were again in the
north harbour of Fairhaven, where they remained till the
27th. The weather then being fine and warm the Thomasine
sailed and made another attempt to explore eastward, but
only came as far as Wijde Bay. The pack there com-
1 With the usual blundering about nomenclature in Spitsbergen this name
has been transferred to the cape at the E. end of Red Beach.
CH. VII.
74 Events in 1614
pelled them to turn back, so they sailed for England and
reached Wrapping on October 4th.
The Dutch Company, like the English, had sent two
ships on discovery this year. We must now turn to
consider w T hat they accomplished. It is a great misfortune
that their log has not been preserved. The ships in
question were De goude CatJi of Amsterdam, Captain
Jan Jacobsz May, and Den Orangienboom of Enkhuizen,
Captain Jacob de Gouwenaer. The pilot of the Enkhuizen
ship was doubtless Joris Carolus, to whom the reader's
attention must be directed for a moment. He was by no
means an unimportant person. Apparently a native of
Enkhuizen. he took part in the wars of his time, and lost a
leg at the siege of Ostend, whereupon he gave himself up
to the art of navigation, and became a pilot. He describes
himself always as Joris Carolus, Stierman. The sticrman
was responsible for the navigation of the ship and kept the
log. Carolus spent many years in the Indies in the service
of the Oost-Indische Compagnie. He was a man of
scientific mind., who collected all the information he could
about matters concerning his art. When at length his
years and feebleness prevented him from voyaging, he
settled down at Amsterdam as teacher of navigation, and
published a book of charts and sailing directions, now very
rare, entitled Het nieuw vemneerde Licht, gehenaemt de
Sleutel varit Tresoor, Gesickt, ende vierighe Colom des
Grooten Zeevaerts. Dat is claer ende seeckere beschrijzinghe
van de Oost, West, Suvdt ende Xoordsclie Navigatie, verciert
met alle noodige perfecte ende duijdelycke Pas-kaarten,
Opdoeninghen der Landen, Haven, Kapen ende Riviere u.
aenwysinghe der Droog/iteu, Landen, Clippen ende On-
diepten ; versckeijdentheijt der p/aetsen, 800 deselve in
nrijlen, graden ende Compasstreecken van den omderen syn
gkelegen. Alles van nieuws oversien, verbeetert ende ver-
meerdert, door Mr Joris Carolus. Stierman. Leermeester
ende Caert-sckryver van de groote en cleyne Zeevaert binnen
de vennaerde Coopstadt Amsteldam. Ghedruckt tot Am-
sterdam. By Jan Janssen Boeekvercooper opt Water in de
Paskaert. Anno 1634. Of this work I can find no copy
in England, but there is one in the Hague Archives, and
I daresay there may be more copies in other Dutch
Carolus Exploration 75
libraries. The book contains one or two autobiographical
passages. Carolus states (p. 2) that all the soundings
measurements, and drawings of the European coasts com-
prised in this extensive book of maps were not derived
from the account of others, but from his own observations.
When writing about Greenland (p. 147), he states that he
does not believe it to be connected with Spitsbergen,
because a constant current flows along the coast of Spits-
bergen, coming from the north. "This I observed in the
year 16 14, in which year I was as far north as 83°"; whereby
he concluded that a route might be found that way if it were
sought for 1 .
Carolus' claim to have attained a high latitude in 16 14
was accepted by contemporary Dutch geographers. Thus
on a globe, made in 1622 by Guljelmus Caesius 2 , the follow-
ing legend is written against a point in the ocean to the
north-west of Hakluyt's Headland, about latitude 82°,
" Hollandi hue usque fuerunt a° 16 14."
Fotherbv's journal contains some meagre but im-
portant references to the Dutch discovery ships. He
states that he hastened up to Fairhaven early in June,
" and so much the rather wee hasted because we under-
stood that the Hollanders also set forth a ship on dis-
coverie." On julv 6th the Hollanders were riding- "in the
north harbour of Fairehaven, and were ready for the first
opportunity to discover." Later he writes, "the ninth of
August two ships of the Hollanders, that were appointed
for northern discovery, were seene thwart of Faire Haven,
sayling to the southwards." Thus the time during which
the Dutch ships were absent from Fairhaven and when
they professed to have reached lat. 83° N. was between
July 6th and August 9th 3 .
It happens that we possess in Fotherby's journal an
exact account of the state of the ice-pack off the north
1 This is the first recorded observation of the great drift which Xansen used
to carry the Fram across the polar ocean.
- I saw this globe both in the Doge's Palace and the Correr Museum at
Venice.
3 It must be remembered that these dates are in the Old Style, used at this
time by the English. The Dutch began to use the New Style already in 1582.
Thus the corresponding Dutch dates, during which their expedition was absent
from Fairhaven, were July 16th to August 19th.
CH. VII.
76 Events in 16 14
coast of Spitsbergen during the month in question. So far
from its having been an open season, it was one in which
the ice was so tightly packed down upon the coast that
even a whale-boat could not be taken beyond Wijde Bay
(Sir Thomas Smith's Inlet). On July 6th Fotherby climbed
a hill near Red-cliff Sound (Monier Bay), and "saw the ice
lye upon the sea so farre as we could discerne, so that the
sea seemed to be wholly toured with ice ; save onely to
the eastwards, we thought that we saw the water beyond the
ice." On July 14th the edge of the ice was only two miles
from Red Beach. On landing " we beheld great abundance
of ice that lav close to the shore and also off at sea so farre
as we could discerne." On August 1st they were just
able to row to the shore near Grey Hook, but found the
ice, off the mouth of Wijde Bay, "so close packt together
that wee could not proceede any further with our shallops."
Finally, on August nth to 14th they found the conditions
unchanged. It is obvious, therefore, that during this period
no ship can possibly have sailed from Fairhaven, reached
lat. 83° N., and returned, as (apparently) Joris Carolus
claimed to have done.
As a matter of fact we know pretty well what Carolus
and his crew were doing between July 6th- 1 6th and
August 9th-i9th. They certainly visited Welcome Point
(Biscayers Hook), for there Fotherby saw " Prince Maurice
his armes " set up by them in the interval between two of
his visits. They were also at Red-cliff Sound, doubtless
on July 3ist-August 10th. This bay bears two names on
early Dutch maps. Some call it Monier Bay — a name
obviously given in no other year than 16 14, when Monier
was Commissary-General of the Dutch fleet. On other
maps, especially one published by Carolus himself, who
may have been jealous of Monier, it is named St Lawrence
Bay. Now the day of St Lawrence is August 10th, and
that fell nine days before the day when they sailed away
from Fairhaven on their return. We need, therefore, have
little doubt that what Carolus did was to explore along the
north coast eastwards. The coast-line he laid down is that
shown on all the early Dutch charts 1 not copied from the
1 Such as those of Middelhoven, A. Goos, and C. Doedsz.
C/3
C
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I*
c
o
S
e
o
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D
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u
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u
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N
Carol us discovers Edge Island 77
Muscovy Company's maps. He named the Groote or
Groote Vogel (now Foul by error for Fowl) Bay, and he
named Monier or Lawrence Bay (the Red-cliff Sound of
Baffin and Fotherby). That was the furthest point he
reached.
If other proof be required we can point to his own
map.
It may be suggested that the figure 83° was an after-
thought. It is not incorporated in the following important
resolution of the States General of January 16th, 1615 1 .
"The request having been read of Mr Jooris Carolus,
Stierman, recently sailed to Spitsbergen with Commissary
Monier, to the whale-fishery, and having advanced his
voyage towards the north pole to seek whether a passage
could be found by the sea of Tartary to China and Japan,
according to the map made by him, which he has presented
to their mightynesses, beseeching them to take his work
into consideration, and offering them his services zealously
at all times at their bidding to make further explorations ;
after deliberation it is resolved that, having regard to the
supplicant's good will and zeal in the service of the land
and the foregoing services which he has rendered, he be
granted the sum of 72 guldens," etc. The map in question
does not appear to remain in the Dutch archives, but the
same, or a manuscript copy of it, is in the " Departement
des cartes et plans de la marine" at Paris. It is signed
"Joris Carolus Stierman Caertschryver tot Enchn" (Enk-
huizen), and dated 1614.
It may be objected that, though Carolus cannot have
reached a high latitude between July 6th and August 9th,
he may have returned to the attack later in the season.
But on August 9th the two Dutch ships in question were
seen by the English passing the mouth of the South Gat
(where the English were anchored), and " sayling to the
southwards." The map shows whither they went, and
reveals a discovery which historians of Arctic exploration
have quite overlooked. East of, and in close proximity to
Spitsbergen, it depicts two land-masses, divided by sounds
from Spitsbergen and from one another. The western
1 Printed by S. Muller, Noordsche Compagnie, Appendix, p. 380.
CH. VII.
78
Events in 1614
land-mass is named Onbekende Cust, the eastern Morfyn.
Morfyn is a miswriting for Morsyn, by which the " Matsyn
id est Plurimae Insillae" of Hondius' chart of 161 1 is meant 1 .
Matsyn we know to have been a part of Novaja Zemlja
(Matochkin) shifted in longitude. Carolus did not know
this. He merely had Hondius' chart before him, with
a piece of land flanked by islands vaguely marked. Sailing
round the South Cape of Spitsbergen, which he named
Generaels hoeck, and standing to the eastward he sighted
land to the north (Whales Point of Edge Island). He
erroneously made this land stretch almost across Wijbe
Jans Water towards Spitsbergen. Continuing eastward,
he passed Deicrow Sound, and then sighted Negro Point
and the islands off it, especially noticing Half-moon Island,
which he clearly marked on the chart. He erroneously
exaggerated the width of the land he discovered, partly no
doubt with the desire of bringing his Morfyn as nearly into
the longitude of Hondius' Matsyn as he could. Thus it is
certain that Edge Island was discovered not by Edge in
1 61 6, but by J oris Carolus in 1614; if, indeed, it had not
been already discovered by the energetic Thomas Marma-
duke of Hull in 161 3.
Matsyn was not invented by Hondius. It is marked on
Gerardus Mercator's map of the polar regions, which
includes Barents' discoveries, and therefore cannot be of
1569, as stated by Nordenskiold in his atlas. It is also
marked on the Molyneux globe in the Middle Temple
Library, which marks Barents' wintering place of 1596-97,
and cannot therefore be of 1592 as stated. Matsyn is like-
wise marked on other maps about 1600' 2 , and on Gerrits'
map in ''Detectio Freti" of 161 2. In almost every case
the coloration or shading indicates that Matsyn was re-
garded as belonging to Spitsbergen, whilst Willoughby
Land is similarly connected with Novaja Zemlja. For this
reason I am inclined to think that, though originally
Matsyn was created out of Matochkin, it may have been
1 In some maps Matsyn is written Marsyn, whence the transition to Morfyn
is easy.
2 Such as Franciscus Hoeius' MS. Map of the World in the Bodel Nyenhuis
Collection at Leyden, reproduced in F. Muller's Remarkable Maps (C. H.
Coote, ed.), Part i, Nos. 7, 8, which likewise introduces Barents' Spitsbergen.
Jan Mayen again discovered 79
identified with Edge Island and the Thousand Islands even
before Carolus' voyage of 1614 1 .
From Edge Island, where doubtless the ice-pack was
encountered, the two Dutch ships sailed westward again
toward Greenland. Running down the edge of the ice,
they came in sight of Jan Mayen Island, which they believed
themselves to have discovered. It appears on Carolus'
chart with the name "Mr J oris eylandt." There is likewise
a cape called Jan Meys hoeck, and a bay called Gouwenaers
Bay, after the captains of the two ships. Jan Mayen Island
was always getting discovered and named. Hudson first
saw it in 1607, an d named it Hudson's Touches. Accord-
ing to Scoresby, the whalers of Hull discovered it about
161 1 or 1612, and named it Trinity Island. The Dutch
tradition, recorded by Zorgdrager, was that Jan Cornelisz.
May discovered it in 161 1 ; but this is a mistake, J. Cz. May
of 161 1 having been confused with J. Jz. May of 1614,
and the name Jan Meys hoeck given by Joris having
been transferred to the island in the form Jan Mayen.
Jean Vrolicq, the Biscay whaler, claimed to have discovered
it in 161 2 ; he named it Isle de Richelieu. Finally, in
161 5 Fotherby discovered it again, named it Sir Thomas
Smith's Island, and wrote the first detailed account of it".
The Dutch in the great days of the fishery always called it
Mauritius Island.
We thus find that the claims of Joris Carolus to have
sailed to lat. 83° N. and to have discovered Jan Mayen
Island cannot be maintained ; but in compensation he
deserves to be credited with the discovery of Edge Island,
which he did not claim.
Muller (p. 171) has shown that, in the following year
(1615), Joris Carolus made an important voyage to the
north-west, which likewise has been forgotten. As in
1 6 14 he anticipated Edge, so in 161 5 Muller claims that
he anticipated Baffin. In the service of the Noordsche
Company, it appears he sailed through Davis Strait, and
reached lat. 8o° N. The results of the voyage were
1 Matsyn is indubitably identified with Edge Island on H. Hondius' Map of
the World of 1630, which is reproduced in F. Muller's Remarkable Afafls,
Part 2, No. 6.
2 Fotherby in Purchas, Vol. III. p. 729.
CH. VII.
8o Events in 1614
depicted on a chart presented to the States-General, and
referred to in a resolution of November 26th, 161 5 1 . This
chart has not been found. In his Nietnu vermeerde Lie lit
(p. 148), Carolus describes Baffin's Bay, and seems to imply
in a rather vague fashion that he was there. He says it
extends to 79°, and is then closed by land. That a Dutch
expedition did penetrate north through Davis Strait in 161 5
is certain, but I think Carolus' presence on board is
doubtful, whilst after his disproved claim of having" reached
83° north of Spitsbergen, other claims by him to have
attained exceptionally high latitudes must be discounted.
We must bear in mind that the object of voyages of dis-
covery at this time was to find new trades, and appropriate
the monopoly of them to the country, or even to the
company, of the discoverer. Hence the exaggerated lati-
tudes claimed. Not the cold veracity of science, but the
lax morality of competitive commerce, inspired the records
of these expeditions. The reports of pilots exploring for
trading companies are not scientific documents. Geogra-
phers must distrust them, much as geologists distrust the
reports of mining prospectors.
In 1 61 7, Muller shows that Joris Carolus was again sent
ondiscovery by the Delft, Hoorn, and Enkhuizen Chambers of
the Noordsche Company. This time he claimed to have found
two islands. The first, named New Holland, was between
lat. 6o° and 63°N. Unless this was a pure invention, it must
have been a known part of the east coast of Greenland.
The other, named Opdams Island, was in lat. 66° N., and
twenty Dutch miles east of Iceland! The Noordsche
Company applied to the States General for the monopoly
of fishing off these islands, which were depicted on a map
supplied by Carolus. The monopoly was granted by a
resolution of October 28th, 1617 2 . We are thus again
driven to doubt Carolus' veracity. The single important
discovery with which he ought to be credited was one
which he appears never to have taken the trouble to
claim.
As an author Carolus was really more important than
as an explorer, but here again fame has been unkind to
1 Printed in Muller's Appendix, p. 381.
2 Printed in Muller's Appendix, p. 382.
Carol its' Book 81
him, and others seem to have reaped his proper renown.
His book, Het nieuw vermeerde Licht ende vierighe Colom
des Grooten Zeevaerts, has been practicall)' forgotten, or
rather the fact that the book was his has been forgotten.
The book itself was issued aofain and aQfain in different
editions and translations, each of which was boldly appro-
priated by its editor as his own work. The original edition
was published in 1634. Anthony J acobsz, of Amsterdam,
issued a new and revised edition of it in 1645, under the
title De licht ende Colomne ofte Zee Spiegel In 1648,
Jacob Aertsz. Colom published it likewise at Amsterdam,
and claimed to be its author. He entitled it De Vyerighe
Colom, etc samengebracht en beschrieven door J. A. C. In
the following year he published an English edition : The
JVezu Fierie Sea-Colomne Wherein the faults, and mis-
takings of the former contrefaited Lichtning Colomne, are
plainely discouered, and corrected. J. A. Colom's second
Dutch edition was issued in 1654. In 1655, Hendrick
Donckers, of Amsterdam, stole, revised, and issued it.
Finally, in 1671, John Seller, of London, published a slightly
revised translation of Donckers' edition, under the new name,
The English Pilot. Of all these editions the first is the only
one that contains the original author's name, unless indeed
Carolus was himself a pirate. We shall return to Carolus
when we come to deal with the cartography of Spitsbergen.
c. CH. VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE METHOD OF THE BAY FISHERY.
In the winter of 1614-15 the Muscovy Company
obtained from the English Government a prohibition
against the import into England of whalebone by any
but themselves 1 . In December we read that Clement
Edmondes was going to Holland to treat with the States
about the Greenland Fishery, amongst other disputed
matters 2 . The Hollanders demanded an offensive and de-
fensive league against Spain in the Orient, and in return
were willing to settle the last Indian and Greenland {i.e.
Spitsbergen) disputes ; but King James adhered firmly to
the peace with Spain, and the whaling troubles remained
unappeased 3 .
We are very imperfectly informed about the events at
Spitsbergen in the season of 16 15. Baffin was sent away
that year to seek for a north-west passage, but Fotherby
was again in Spitsbergen at work for the Muscovy Com-
pany. The exploration he accomplished, however, was
not on the Spitsbergen coasts, where he only entered
known harbours, but in the seas to the west. He spent
four days in July at Cross Road, refitting his vessel after
a storm. There he met three Danish men-of-war and a
pinnace, sent up under the command of the Scotsman,
Sir John Cunningham, and piloted by an Englishman
named James Varden, to assert the sovereignty of the
King of Denmark over this part of " Greenland." Of
1 Record Office, Proclamation Coll. No. 30.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1611-18, p. 262. P. Jz. Twisck's
Chrouijck, 11. p. 1684.
3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add. 161 1- 18, p. 284.
Danish Claims 83
course, if Spitsbergen had been part of Greenland, the
rights of Denmark would have been incontestable.
Gerrits relates that the English had gone so far in
the first years of the fishery as to pay to the King of
Denmark a tribute in acknowledgment of his rights, as
against the Dutch. The English at first called Spits-
bergen "Greenland" in ignorant good faith; they con-
tinued to do so, to assert that it was not a Dutch discovery,
and so the name stuck to the island for the best part of
two centuries. The real Greenland was called Groneland,
Groinland, Groenland, or Engronland to distinguish it
from its upstart namesake. By 16 13 the servants of the
Muscovy Company had probably satisfied themselves that
Spitsbergen was an island. The English consequently
changed their ground, asserted that it had been discovered
by Willoughby in 1553, and declared it to be English by
right of discovery and first occupation. It was formally
annexed under the name King James his Newland. The
annexation was not recognised by the Dutch, and was
vigorously disputed by Hugo Grotius in several elaborate
papers 1 . The attempted English annexation, however, put
a stop to the payment of tribute to Denmark, which, if paid
in 161 3, was certainly withheld in 16 14. The appearance
ol Danish men-of-war in Spitsbergen waters in 161 5 is thus
accounted for. Neither English nor Dutch yielded to them.
Some of their proceedings are described in a letter written
by Fotherby from Cross Road to Edge in Sir Thomas
Smith Bay, which has been preserved by Purchas 2 .
The Muscovy Company this year sent up eight big
ships and two pinnaces 3 . Benjamin Joseph and Thomas
Edge were again in command. The Noordsche Company
sent eleven ships under Adriaen Block, convoyed by three
men-of-war. Thus the Dutch were again stronger than
the English. The two fleets did not openly molest one
another. We hear nothing about ships of other nations,
but it does not follow that none came up. On the north
coast of Spitsbergen is a point named Biscay ers Hook by
1 Muller, TV. Co. pp. 206-9.
2 Hi. p. 731.
3 According to Fotherby. Edge says two ships, but this figure can be
proved wrong. Edge was often inaccurate.
CH. viii. 6 — 2
84 The Season of 1615
the Dutch. Fotherby had named it Welcome Point in
1 614. After 1 61 8, or indeed after 161 6, it can scarcely
have been occupied by Basques, whilst in 16 14 we know
it was not. It is probable, therefore, that French or
Spanish ships anchored there either in this or the following
year, and so gave their name to the site. At this time
they would not have interfered with the operations of
English or Dutch, who did not yet use the north coast.
It is possible that all the fourteen Dutch ships did
not come to Spitsbergen. The rediscovery of the island
originally named Hudson's Touches, now known as Jan
Mayen Island, but generally called Mauritius Island by
the Dutch whalers and in official documents of the 1 7th
century, seems to have suggested to the Noordsche Com-
pany that it would save trouble with the English and yield
good profit if some of their ships went thither for whaling.
In 1616 the whole Dutch fleet was sent to Jan Mayen;
it is therefore reasonable to suppose that in the previous
year an experimental visit had been paid to that coast
by at least one or two Dutch ships. Most of the Dutch
whaling fleet, however, went to Spitsbergen in 161 5.
Though afterwards it suited the convenience of the Dutch
to claim that the modus vivendi of 1614 had been made
not for one year only but to last till a settlement had been
arrived at by the slow diplomatists, this year the Dutch
themselves failed to observe its conditions, for their ships
not only settled in Fairhaven and Horn Sound, but they
also occupied Bell Sound in force and built a hut on the
shore. This was probably the first building, intended to
last, set up in Spitsbergen, though Muller states that the
English had a hut on the shores of Sir Thomas Smith Bay
(Foreland Sound) in 161 3. The English this year confined
themselves to the South Harbour of Fairhaven, Sir Thomas
Smith Bay, and Ice Sound. Both fleets returned with a
poor cargo.
The erection of permanent buildings for a whaling base
was an important step. It was doubtless taken about the
same time by both English and Dutch, as it corresponded
with the needs of the whaling industry as then carried on.
In the first years of Spitsbergen whaling the ships took
up the copper boilers, casks, and so forth that they needed,
'. • •■• * . •
. ! : .„.A: >l '.
L WW* ■
Method of the Fishery
85
as well as the whale-boats and fishing o-ear. At the end
of the season they brought them all away again. It soon
became evident that much labour would be saved if the
coppers, spare casks, tools, harpoons, lines, whale-boats,
and other materials, could be left behind at some safe
place at the end of the season. Moreover, as many men
were employed on shore for weeks on end, it was simpler
to house them there, whilst sheds were required to protect
the coppers from wet whilst in use. At first tents were
used for this purpose, and when permanent buildings were
erected they were still called " tents " by the whalers.
The method of the fishery was this. At the beginning
of the season the ships sailed up together. On arrival at
Spitsbergen they scattered to their respective bays and
stations, made ready for the fishery and then waited for
the whales to come in. The ships were securely anchored
near the shore, and the whale-boats were got ready. Men
were set on suitable points of outlook to watch for the
coming of the whales. The best early account of the
Spitsbergen fishery is Fotherby's in his journal of 161 3,
from which the following description is quoted or con-
densed. An approximately contemporary Dutch account
is reprinted by Muller {N. Co. p. 2>Zl) from Saeghman's
pamphlet entitled Drie Voyagien Gadaen na Groenlandt.
"When the whale," writes Fotherby, "enters into the
sounds our whal-killers doe presentlie sallie forth to meet
him, either from our ships, or else from some other place
more convenient for that purpose, where to expect him;
making very speedie way towards him with their shallops.
...Comeing neare him, they row resolutelie towards him,
as though they intended to force the shallop upon him.
But, so soone as they come within stroak of him, the
harponier (who stands up readie, in the head of the boat)
darts his harping-iron at him out of both his hands ; where-
with the whale being stricken, he presentlie descends to
the bottom of the water; and therefore the men in the
shallop doe weire out 40, 50, or 60 fathomes of rope,
yea, 100 or more, according as the depth requireth. For,
upon the sockett of the harping-iron, ther is made fast
a rope, which lies orderlie coiled up in the sterne of the
boat, which, I saie, they doe weire forth untill they
CH. VIII.
86 Method of the Fishery
perceave him to be rising againe; and then they haile
in some of it, both to give him the lesse scope, and
also that it may be the stronger, being shorter. For,
when he riseth from the bottome, he comes not directlie
up above the water, but swimmes awaie with an uncon-
trowled force and swiftnes ; hurrying the shallop after him,
with hir head so close drawen downe to the water, that
shee seemes ever readie to be hailed under it. When
he hath thus drawen hir perhaps a mile or more, — which
is done in a very short time, considering her swiftnes, —
then will he come spowteing above the water ; and the
men rowe up to him, and strike him with long launces,
which are made purposelie for that use. In lanceing of
the whale, they strike him as neare his swimming finne,
and as lowe under water as they can convenientlie, to
pierce into his intralls. But, when he is wounded, he is
like to wrest the launce out of the striker's hand ; so that
sometimes two men are faine to pluck it out, although
but one man did easilie thrust it in. And nowe will he
frisk and strike with his taile verie forceablie ; sometimes
hitting the shallop, and splitting her asunder ; sometimes
also maihmeing or killing some of the men. And, for
that cause, ther is alwaies either two or 3 shallops about
the killing of one whale, that the one of them maie
relieve and take in the men out of another, being splitt.
When he hath receaved his deadlie wound, then he casteth
forth blood where formerlie he spowted water ; and, before
he dies, he will sometimes draw the shallops 3 or 4 miles
from the place where he was first stricken with the
harping-iron. When he is dyeing, he most comonlie
tourneth his bellie uppermost ; and then doe the men
fasten a rope, or small hauser, to the hinder parte of his
bodie, and with their shallops (made fast, one to another)
they towe him to the ships, with his taile foremost ; and
then they fasten him to the sterne of some ship apointed
for that purpose, where he is cutte up in manner as
followeth : Two or three men come in a boate, or shallop,
to the side of the whale; one man holdeing the boat close
to the whale with a boat-hook, and another — who stands
either in the boat or upon the whale — cutts and scores
the fatt, which we call blubber, in square-like pieces, 3 or
Method of the Fishery 87
4 feet long, with a great cutting-knife. Then, to raise it
from the flesh, ther is a crab, or capstowe sett purposely
upon the poop of the ship, from whence ther descends
a rope, with an iron hook in the end of it ; and this hook
is made to take fast hould of a piece of the fatt, or
blubber: and as, by tourning the capstowe, it is raised
and lifted up, the cutter with his long knife, looseth it
from the flesh, even as if the larde of a swine were,
by peece and peece, to be cutte off from the leane. When
it is in this manner cleane cutt off, then doe they lower
the capstowe, and lett it downe to float upon the water,
makeing a hole in some side or corner of it, whereby they
fasten it upon a rope. And so they proceed to cutt off
more peeces; makeing fast together 10 or twelve of them
at once, to be towed ashoare, at the sterne of a boat or
shallop. Theise pieces, being brought to the shoare-side,
are, one by one, drawen upon the shoare by the helpe of
a high crane ther placed; and at length are hoised up
from the ground over a vessell, which is sett to receave
the oile that runnes from it as it is cutt into smaller peices ;
for, whilest it hangeth thus in the crane, two men doe
cutt it into little peices about a foot long and half a foot
thick, and putt them in the aforesaid vessel ; from which
it is carried to the choppers by two boies, who, with little
flesh hooks, take in ech hand a peice, and so conveie it
into tubbs, or old casks, which stand behind the choppers;
out of which tubbs it is taken againe, and is laid for them,
as they are readie to use it, upon the same board they
stand on.
"The choppers stand at the side of a shallop, which
is raised from the ground, and sett up of an equall height
with the coppers, and stands about two yards distant
from the fournaces. Then a fir-deale is laid alon^st the
one side of the shallop, within-board ; and upon it doe they
set their chopping-blocks, which are made of the whale's
taile, or els of his swimming-finne. Nowe the blubber
is laid readie for them by some apointed for that purpose,
as before is sett downe, in such small pieces as the boies
doe bring from the crane. And so they take it up with
little hand-hooks, laieing it upon their blocks ; where, with
chopping knives, they chop it into verve small pieces, about
CH. VIII.
88 Method of the Fishery
an ynch and a halfe square. Then, with a short thing
of wood, made in fashion like a cole-rake, they put the
chopt blubber off from the blocke downe into the shallop;
out of the which it is taken againe with a copper ladle, and
filled into a great tubb, which hangs upon the arme of
a gibbett that is made to tourne to and againe between
the blubber-boat and the coppers. This tubb containeth
as much blubber as will serve one of the coppers at one
boiling ; and therefore, so soon as it is emptied, it is
presentlie filled againe, that it maie be readie to be
putt into the copper when the frittires are taken out.
Theise frittires (as wee call them) are the small peices
of chopt blubber, which, when the oile is sufficientlie
boiled, will look browne, as if they were fried ; and they
are taken out of the coppers, together with some of the
oile, by copper ladles, and put into a wicker basket that
stands over another shallop which is placed on the other
side of the fournaces, and serves as a cooler to receave
the oile being drayned thorow the said basketts. And this
shallop, because it receaves the oile hott out of the two
coppers, is kept continuallie half full of water ; which is not
onelie a meanes to coole the oile before it runnes into
cask, but also to dense it from soot and dross which
discends to the bottome of the boat. And out of this
shallop the oile runneth into a long trough, or gutter,
of wood, and thereby is conveyed into butts and hogs-
heads ; which, being filled, are bung'd up, marked, and
rowl'd by, and others sett in their place. Then is the
bung taken out againe, that the oile maie coole ; for
notwithstanding ye shallop is half full of water, yet, the
coppers being continuallie plied, the oile keeps very hott
in the boat, and runs also hott into the cask, which some-
times is an occasion of great leakage. Now concerning
the finnes.
"When the whale lies floateing at the sterne of the
ship, where he is cutt up, they cut of his head, con-
taining his toung and his finnes, comonlie called whalebone ;
and by a boat, or shallop, they towe it so neare the shoare
as it can come, and ther lett it lie till the water flowe
again ; for, at high waters, it is drawen further and further
upon the shoare by crabs and capstowes ther placed for
Method of tJie FisJiery 89
that purpose, untill, at a lowe water, men maie come to
cutt out the finnes; which thing they doe with hatchetts,
by 5 or 6 finnes at once. And theise are trailed further
up from the shoare-side, and then severed ech one from
another with hatchetts, and by one, at once, are laid upon
a fir-deale, or other board, raised up a convenient height
for a man to stand at, who scrapeth off the white pithie
substance that is upon the roots, or great ends, of the
finnes, with such scraping-irons as coopers use ; being
instruments very fitting for that purpose. Then are they
rubbed in the sand, to dense them from grease which
they receave when the heads are brought to the shoare-
side: for, whilest the whale is in cutting up, his head
is under the water, and his finnes remaine cleane; but
being brought neare the shoare and grounded, then doth
the grease cleave unto them at the ebbing or falling
of the water, which is alwaies fattie with blubber that
floats upon it continuallie. When the finnes are thus
made cleane they are sorted into 5 severall kindes, and
are made up into bundells of 50, contayneing of ech sorte
10 finnes. These bundles are bound up with coards; and
upon ech of them ther is tied a stick, whereon is written
some number, and the companie's mark sett ; and so they
are made readie to be shipped."
From the foregoing account it is easy to see how
needful some kind of permanent base was for the whalers
so long as the whales were good enough to come to them
into the bays of Spitsbergen. The Dutch therefore in
161 5 built themselves a hut in Bell Sound, on the shore
of the bay they called Schoonhoven, the modern Recherche
Bay. The English about the same time built a similar
hut at Sir Thomas Smith Bay, apparently in Cove Com-
fortless. Perhaps both English and Dutch likewise now
built huts in Fairhaven near their respective anchorages.
It is probable, but not recorded.
The whalers were ordered to bring home anything
of value they found on the shore. Sometimes, as we have
seen, they brought home a live reindeer. Occasionally we
read of them returning with what they at first called a
'unicorn's horn." This, of course, was the spirally twisted
"tusk" of the male narwhal — "mighty Monoceros with
CH. VIII.
90 The Season of 1616
immeasured tayles 1 " — as the whalers were not long in
discovering, though a superstitious public were slow to
grasp the fact. Perhaps the English whalers in 1615
brought home such a horn from Spitsbergen. At all
events the East India Company's fleet which sailed from
England on the 9th of March, 161 6, and reached Surat
on September 24th carried amongst other treasures for
sale in the Indies a "Unicorn's Horn"." Several of the
Muscovy Company's adventurers were likewise adventurers
in the East India Company. The horn was offered for
sale at a great price, as an antidote to poison, to Jehangir's
son, the future Shah Jehan, but he refused to buy it. It
was next offered to Mukarrab Khan for 5,000 rupees. He
tried its effect on a poisoned pigeon, goat, and man, who
all died! So he too refused to buy it. It was then sent
to Achin, where also no purchaser could be found. It is
worth mention in this connexion that Roe often cites
"teeth" among the commodities sold by the English in
India. Doubtless walrus tusks are intended — another
Arctic product thus early exported to tropical regions.
The Muscovy Company again sent eight ships and two
pinnaces to Spitsbergen for the season of 161 6, under the
command of Thomas Edge. He reached Spitsbergen
about June 4th, and, as he states in the account printed in
Purchas (in. p. 467), "appointed all his ships for their
severall harbours... having in every harbour a sufficient
number of expert men and all provisions fitted for such
a voyage. This yeare it pleased God to blesse them by
their labours, and they full laded all their ships with Oyle,
and left an over-plus in the countrey, which their ships
could not take in. They imployed this yeere a small
pinnasse unto the eastward, which discovered the eastward
part of Greenland {i.e. Spitsbergen), namely the Hand
called now Edges Hand 3 , and other Hands lying to the
northwards as farre as 78° ; this pinnasse was some 20
tunnes and had twelve men in her, who killed 1,000 sea-
horses on Edges Hand, and brought all their teeth home
1 See Beddard's Book of Whales, p. 246.
2 Vide the Hakluyt Society's Embassy of Sir Thomas Rowe to India, p. 290,
and references in the footnote.
3 Really discovered in 1614, if not in 1613, as above stated.
The Jan May en Fishery 9 1
for London. This is the first year that ever the Company
full laded all their ships sent to Greenland."
It will be observed that Edge says nothing of trouble
with foreign competitors this year. Dunkerque 1 we know
to have sent out seven vessels, but there is no record
whither they went. Evidently Edge did not meet with
them. "The Hollanders," he writes, "had this yeere in
Greenland (Spitsbergen) foure ships, and those kept to-
gether in odde places, not easily to bee found, and made a
poore voyage." The fact was that the Spitsbergen voyage
of the previous year had been unprofitable to the Dutch.
Perhaps they recognised that contention with the English
involved a loss of time ruinous to the voyage. Moreover
they feared an Anglo-Danish combination against them,
such as in fact was almost brought about in 162 1 2 . For
some or all of these reasons the Noordsche Company
decided to make Jan Mayen the head-quarters of the
season's work. Zorgdrager 3 , writing almost a century later,
states that the Dutch Jan Mayen fishery began in 161 1 and
was very profitable till 1633. The date 161 1 is apparently
a few years too early. The Jan Mayen fishery was not
definitely established till 161 6.
We learn from the instructions to the commander of
the convoy to the Dutch whaling fleet this year, Jan Jacobsz.
Schrobop 4 , that the ships, convoyed by four men-of-war,
were first to sail to Jan Mayen and all make their voyage
there, if there were whales enough. If not, one ship was
to sail to Fairhaven, one to Magdalena Bay, one to Green
Harbour, and one to Bell Sound. This last was to take
possession of the hut, shallops, casks, and other provisions
belonging to the Company which had been left behind there
in 1 61 5. They were ordered to set up their fishery and
cookery, even though the English should also lie there and
try to hinder them. In that case they were to call upon
one of the men-of-war for help.
These were the four ships mentioned by Edge as in
Spitsbergen waters. When the ship ordered to Bell Sound
1 Hamy, loc. cit. p. 15.
2 Muller, pp. 210, 242. s German edition, pp. 99, 100.
Muller, N. Co. pp. 137, 150, 373. See also Memoire of the N. Co. in
Mullers Mare C/ausum, p. 371.
CH. VIII.
92 The Season of 1616
arrived from Jan Mayen, probably rather late in the season,
she found the Dutch hut and belongings already appro-
priated and in occupation by the English. No man-of-war
being at hand to help, the Dutch were unable to regain
possession of their property. The hut thenceforward, as
we shall see, remained in possession of the English. If the
Dutch were right in claiming that the agreement of 16 14
was intended to last, and in demanding its observance, they
were wrong in settling at Bell Sound, contrary to that
agreement. They were logically compelled either to give
up the hut or the agreement ; they appear to have chosen
the former alternative. The season's venture was very
profitable to the Muscovy Company, whose ships killed
130 whales 1 .
It is probable that the Dutch took steps this year to
make permanent settlements on Jan Mayen. They had
the whole island to themselves, and were strong enough to
chase interlopers away 2 . The different Chambers of the
Noordsche Company built their settlements at different
points, mostly along the north-west coast of the island.
The chief settlement was at North Bay (English Bay of our
chart). There were others in Smith Bay, Marimuts Bay,
and West and East Cross Coves. In North Bay were no
less than " ten tents " equipped with whale-boats, coppers,
ovens, cooling vats, and so forth. It was here in 1633 that
the seven winterers died whose pathetic journal was often
printed 3 . Two of the cookeries belonging to the Amster-
dam Chamber were fortified to resist " Biscay privateers 4 ."
In August, 1699, Zorgdrager visited this settlement, then
long ago abandoned. " I saw," he writes (p. 282), "about
twenty shallops still lying beside one another, as in Holland
they are laid up for the winter ; likewise two great boats,
some oil-casks, and a great heap of thick ships' cables,
probably four or five of them piled on one another. Every-
thing, however, was ruined, the boats fit only for firewood,
and the rope for making paper." He says that in its great
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1611-18, p. 392.
2 In 161 8 King James gave the Jan Mayen fishery to the men of Hull, but
it was a gift they could not take possession of.
3 Churchill, Vol. II., contains an English translation.
4 See Muller, N. Co. p. 151.
Jan Mayeu Stations 93
days Jan Mayen yielded so much train-oil that in one year
two full extra cargoes of 1,000 quarteels each had to be
fetched away in a special ship that made two voyages for
that purpose in one season. It seems as though the settle-
ment had been suddenly abandoned. In 1632 the ice
prevented ships from reaching the island. That may have
happened several years in succession. Moreover the
whales learned to shun the dangerous locality. In any
case* it seems strange that such a quantity of valuable
stores should apparently have been forgotten and never
fetched away.
CH. VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
TROUBLES WITH THE DUTCH IN 1617.
After the season of 161 6 the Noordsche Company's
monopoly expired. They accordingly applied to the States
General for a renewal of it, which was granted for a period
of four years. At this time Zeeland Chambers, represent-
ing Flushing, Middelburg, and Veere, were taken into the
great Company. As they were the last to come in they had
the last choice of stations. Apparently there was judged
to be no room for them at Jan Mayen, so they had to take
their chance at Spitsbergen. The three Flushing ships,
with whose adventures we shall chiefly be concerned, were
the Noatis Ark, 200 tons, Jan Verelle, master ; the Pearle,
Huybrecht Cornelisz, master ; and the Fox, Cornells De
Cock, master. It is evident that the English knew of the
intention of the Zeelanders to go up, and were prepared to
meet them. The Zeelanders of Middelburg and Veere
went to Dutch Bay, but the Amsterdam men would not
have them there, so they moved further eastward and
settled on one of the Norway Islands. Their look-out
point bore the name Zeeusche Uytkyk thenceforward on
all Dutch charts. At the east end of the Outer Norway is
a hill 700 feet high, commanding a fine seaward view 1 . At
the foot of it Lamont found traces of an old Dutch cookery,
which may have been that of these Zeelanders.
How many Amsterdam ships went to Dutch Bay we do
not know. The north harbour there had by now become
one of their recognised stations, where, as at Jan Mayen,
they had probably already built some huts. Though they
1 See illustration facing p. 266 in Lamont's Yachting, and read pp. 266, 267.
Composition of the Fleets 95
forbade the Zeelanders to settle near them, they allowed two
Danish whalers to do so, anxious perhaps to prevent them
from making common cause with the English. It appears,
however, from Heley's letter that the Danes had to pay
with half their cargo for the privilege of fishing. The two
ships " made one hundred and odde tunnes of oyle and
laded one ship for Copenhaven, the other with halfe the
oyle and finnes for Amsterdam, and left the country about
the 6th or 7th of August." This Danish settlement on
Amsterdam Island lasted for some years. The arms of the
two countries nailed on posts were set up on shore, marking
the limits of the settlements, Amsterdam being to the east,
the Danish warehouse and huts to the west 1 . Thus by the
year 161 7 we may say that the whaling station, which came
to be known as Smeerenburg (Blubber-town) was definitely
founded.
The main body of the Dutch fleet again went to Jan
Mayen, whence some ships perhaps came on to Smeeren-
burg later in the season, as was the regular habit in after
years ; for the general movement of the whales was from
west to east as the season advanced. Dunkerque again
sent cut seven ships to the whale-fishery 2 , but of their
doings we hear nothing. One interloper came from Aid-
borough, in charge of Master Cudner, who was up in 16 13,
and doubtless every year since. "He rid in Portnick "
(Safe Haven), writes Heley, "where he killed eleven whales,
and made some seventie and odde tunnes of oyle (which is
laden aboord him) and his finnes." Heley intended to have
overpowered Cudner, displaced his crew, put some of the
Muscovy Company's cargo on board him, and sent him to
London ; but the armed ship did not arrive in time. As it
was, he offered to pay Cudner to carry some of his stuff to
London, but he refused. "His voyage," Heley adds, "is
by the thirds, so that his men will rather dye than forgoe
that they have got."
The Muscovy Company's fleet consisted of 13 ships and
2 pinnaces. The most connected account of the principal
events of the season is that contained in the " depositions
of John Weddel, alias Duke, of Lymehorst, mariner, and
1 Wassenaer, Hist. Verh. v. 157, ix. 124.
2 Hamy, p. 15.
CH. IX.
96 Troubles in 161 7
William Heley of London, draper, taken before Sir Henry
Marten, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, on behalf of the
Muscovy Company, concerning their voyage to Greenland
(Spitsbergen) in the ship Dragon, May to July, 161 7, and
their attempts to compel the Hollanders to desist from
whale fishing there." This is the first time we hear of
Heley in Spitsbergen. We often come across him in future
years in the capacity of supercargo. He was a young man
at this time, aged 22. Apprenticeship to a draper seems
a curious introduction to Arctic adventure. Purchas (in.
7 37) knew him and obtained much information and many
papers from him, including " W'hole Elaborate Poems"
written by him in Spitsbergen.
The deposition runs as follows 1 :
"In the Moneth of Maie 1617 about the 19th daie the
English fleete haveing made the land (Spitsbergen) descried
a shipp (the Fox) plyeinge out of the yce with whom they
desired to speake, and comeing up with him found him to
be of Flushing, the master's name Cornelius de Cooke for
whome the Captaine (Edge) of the English sent his boate,
and demaundinge of him if he had byn in any harbor in
the country he answered noe, but looseinge companie of
his consorts thought the English fleete had byn them,
tellinge the English Captaine that there were seaventeene
sayle of Fleminges or Hollanders upon the coast 2 , and all
or most part of them got into harbour as he thought whoe
came to make a voyadge on the whale. The Captaine of
the English showed him his Majestie's graunt to the Com-
panie and willed him by virtue thereof to departe, for if he
1 The authorities for the following events are : —
Depositions of Dutch and Basque sailors from the NoatCs Ark of
Flushing, printed in Muller's A 7 . Co. pp. 402-406.
Short account of the troubles of 161 8 included in the Coorte Deductie,
etc. of the Noordsche Co. to the States General, 18th Sept. 1624,
printed in Muller's N. Co. p. 395.
Wm. Heley's Letter of 12th Aug. 1617, printed in Purchas III. p. 732.
Depositions of English Witnesses from the ship Dragon, State Papers,
Domestic, James I, Vol. 95 (Jan. 1618), No. 16, for the most part
printed above.
Edge's account in his Briefe Discoverie, printed in Purchas III.
pp. 462-473-
Muller (N. Co. p. 212 note) had access to other depositions by Zeeland
witnesses.
2 This, of course, was bluff. Most of the ships were away at Jan Mayen.
At Horn Sound 97
should chance to meete him in the Contrie he wold dis-
furnish him of all his provision, and he requested him to
certify his countriemen if he chanced to meete with any of
them, and then sent him aboord againe and soe departed."
From the Flushing- witnesses we learn that Cornelis De
Cock nevertheless entered Horn Sound on May 29th, and
the other two Flushing ships, the Noatis Ark and the
Pearle, came in on the following day. On the 1st of June
the Muscovy Company's ship Nathan, Henry Smith master,
also arrived there. "The said Flemings killed whales and
did what pleased themselves, settinge the Englishe at
naught, whereupon those of the said English shipp wished
them to surcease killinge whales and depart the contrie, for
if the Captaine of the English understood thereof he would
take their provisions from them. They replied, if they did
he wold make some of the English plompe for it, and that
they wold staie and fish there in despight of the English."
The Zeelanders sent a boat off to Bell Sound expecting
to find a Dutch man-of-war there, and so get help. All
they found was the English in possession, who thus learnt
of their presence at Horn Sound. Smith also "sent word
to the Admirall (in Bell Sound) willinge him to take some
order with the Fleminge, otherwise his voyadge wold be
overthrowne, and informed him of their threateninge words,
unto whom the English Captaine writ a note willinge him
to depart and not stay there, which if they refused he wold
deale with them as formerly he had promised." Meanwhile
Verelle of the Noah's Ark had killed two whales, landed
his coppers, and got to work. The other two ships were
likewise doing well. On receipt of Edge's letter the Zee-
landers "promised faithfully to surcease killinge whales
there and presently to depart and leave the contrie, willinge
the English Capt. to give a testimoniall under his hand of
their beinge there. And soe for three or four daies went
away."
The Zeelanders state that they accordingly went for
Bear Island, where they met an English interloper whom
we learn from Purchas to have been Marmaduke of Hull.
Purchas says that Marmaduke persuaded them to return,
but the Zeelanders say nothing about this. They explain
that they returned because they could find no whales to the
C. CH. IX. 7
98 Troubles in 161 7
southward. The Muscovy Company evidently believed
this gossip about Marmaduke and were correspondingly
annoyed. This perhaps accounts for their petition to the
Privy Council of Jan. 22, 1618 1 , in which they protest against
"divers of the towne of Kingston upon Hull, who have
ever (been) and now are most troublesome and the greatest
hinderers of the Companie." The Hull men were duly
ordered not to interlope, but they seem to have paid no
attention to the inhibition.
The Zeelanders sailed back to Spitsbergen, intending,
as they said, to find some place where the English were
not, but finding none suitable they returned to Horn Sound,
killing two whales on the way. It appears that they hoped
to find a Dutch man-of-war arrived there in the meantime
and able to defend them. But they only found two English
ships. They state, but it is an obvious untruth, that they
obtained permission from them to settle on the other side
of the bay {i.e. on the north side) and to fish in the sea
outside the cape (the Lord Worcester's Point of Baffin's
map). On their return the Zeelanders " followed theire
busines, hindringe the English what they cold from make-
inge their voyadge in that harbor, whereupon a second
information was sent to the English Captaine of theire
insolent behavior. Who upon receipt thereof sent his Vice-
admirall (W. Heley) with the said shipp the Dragon, give-
inge him order to drive them from thence and disarme
them of their provisions. But the windy weather prove-
inge contrary it was the latter end of July ere the English
Viceadmirall cold get into that harbor soe that the said
Cornelist de Cooke and one of his consorts were departed
full laden with blubber, and carried away two whole whales
uncut up at theire sternes one day before the said Vice-
admirall got thither, and left theire Admirall, beinge a ship
of Flushinge (the Noah 's Ark), the Captaine and master
John Verile, and owner Giles Bishop, behinde to outface
and try what the English wold doe." The Zeelanders say
that Verelle could not sail with the others because he had
most of his stuff still on shore, to wit 1 20 hogshead of
blubber, and all his whalebone, etc. In the ship he had
1 British Museum MSS. Lansd. 142, f. 389.
Spoiling the Dutch 99
107 or 108 hogsheads of blubber and 2\ whales lying along-
side. This for obvious reasons is probably an outside
estimate. Purchas states that the Zeelanders hurried away,
because they " had notice by an English Surgeon " that
Heley was coming with his armed ship.
"The said English Viceadmirall at his comeinge thither
sent for the said Flemish Captaine aboord, and demanded
of him why contrarie to his promise and handwriteinge he
had not departed and left the contry at his first warneinge
when he made a show of goeinge away. He replied he
writ and promised he wold presently depart the contrie and
be gon yet he preposed to retorne ymediately, for what did
they wey the words or spece of the English there. Then
the Viceadmirall told him seeinge he had dealt soe dis-
honestly and had given out threatening words against him
he wold take those things he had gotten in the Contrie from
him. He answered if he did he wold make some of the
English fleete pay for it. Whereupon the said English
Viceadmirall finding him soe obstynate and seeinge some
Blubber lying ashore put up into cask and two whale there
uncut up, the blubber beinge but a small quantity, by reason
of the other twoe ships soe late departure, did carry the
said Blubber and whales over to the other side of the
harbor and there left the Blubber and cask ashore, never
making any use of it, and the whales weere driven ashore
in a storme and all lost not saveinge any of them, as like-
wise a copper which was sent ashore and there swallowed
in the sandy beach 1 and never found againe by the English
nor by them never possessed nor used. And for knives
launcs harping yrons and such like provisions, there lay
some few ashore which weere overworne, not serviceable
nor beinge all to the valew of xxx/. which the English doth
not knowe what became of, haveing enough to do to looke
to theire shipps which rid there in a storme on life and
death."
I am afraid this account of the spoiling of the Noah's
Ark is not strictly accurate. The Zeelanders say that the
English took most of their equipment and all their blubber
and that they saw them boil it down into oil and lade
it aboard their own ships. This is doubtless nearer the
1 The beach of Horn Sound is not sandy.
CH. ix. 7—2
ioo Troubles in 1617
truth, for Heley in a private letter, written from Safe Haven
(Ice Sound) on the 12th August to Mr Decrow, one of the
London adventurers, says : "We tooke a ship of Flushing
called the Noah's Arke... having out of him two hundred
hogsheads of Blubber and two whales and a halfe to cut up,
a great Copper, and divers other provisions, and sent him
away ballasted with stones." The deposition of the four
Basques confirms the Zeelanders' story and further states
that the English threatened to hang the Basques at the end
of their bowsprit, and to tie them hand and foot and throw
them into the sea ; that they also made the Basques row
the whales 2 miles across the sound to the English ships,
and that they took from them "a copper, ladles, harpoons,
lances, knives, cordage, 4 shallops, 6 cast-iron pieces with
their carriages, musketts, powder, 2 windlasses, and many
other things." Incidentally they mention that the English
killed nine whales in one day. Purchas says that the ship
contained ten cast pieces and that six were taken to prevent
reprisals on the way home. They were returned in
London.
In the "said storme the Fleminge Cables breakinge
and he forced within halfe a cables length of the shore,
haveinge noe comand of his men, had there utterly perisht
and byn cast awaie if the English Viceadmirall had not
forced his owne men to the greate danger of their lives
to carry out a warpe and laye out an anchor for the
Fleminge and heave him further from shore when never
a Flemynge durst nor wold once stirr his foote. And soe
by that good meanes saved his shipp. And for his shallops
the English never sawe but two he had, one of which is left
remaineinge in the contrie and the other the English
brought home, for which they gave him an English shallop.
Likewise the said Viceadmirall sent him his ship boate to
ballast his ship (the Fleminge havinge non) which boate
was quite spoyled and was not serviceable for the English
afterwards in tyme of necessity when they had use for her,
and did otherwise deale very kindlie with him, and soe in
friendship departed from him. But assone as the English
Viceadmirall was gon the Flemynge sent him word the
next year he wold hange him at his yard arme and many
other threateninge speeches, which was all the requitall for
Heley triumphant 101
saveinge his shipp and doeing him diverse other kind
pleasures 1 ."
Alter sending off the Pleasure, deeply laden and charged
to watch the Aldborough interloper, and despatching the
Bear out of Cross Road to Hamburg, and the Greyhound to
London, Heley was ready to sail home in the Dragon in a
very happy frame of mind. "Through God's blessing," he
wrote on August 12th, "our voyage is performed in all the
harbours of the countrie this yeere, with a greater overplus
than our ships will carry, so that in some places wee must
of force leave good store of oyle and blubber behinde for
the next yeere. We are all for the most part readie to set
sayle, being full laden, onely I desire to see the coast cleere
of Interlopers whereby our provisions may be left in se-
curitie The whales killed this yeere in the Country are
about 150 in number, and the oyle made will be about 1800
and odde tunnes, besides the blubber left for want of caske."
Heley further relates that " the small ship John Ellis is
returned from the south-eastward, having made some
further discovery and killed some 800 sea-horse (walrus),
and laden the teeth and 30 tunnes of hides and the rest of
his lading in oyle. He brought some sea-horse blubber
with him. He met with Thomas Marmaduke of Hull in
those parts, who had not done anything when he saw him
towards making a voyage, but went for Hope Island, and
no doubt but hee will doe much spoile there." Purchas has
preserved a statement of Edge's that a ship of 60 tons with
a crew of 20 men " discovered to the eastward of Greenland
(Spitsbergen) as farre to the northwards as 79 degrees, and
an Hand which he named Witches Hand, and divers other
Hands" as shown on the Muscovy Company's map which
Purchas printed. The map depicts a pinnace sailing east
of South Cape and a whale-boat rowing up Wybe Jans
\\ ater. This is all the information we possess about what
must have been a most interesting expedition.
It is unfortunate that so little has been recorded about
the early explorations of East Spitsbergen. Dutch and
English alike sent ships to explore there year after year,
but both companies kept their information secret. We
know that Hope Island and some other islands were dis-
1 Signed "John Weddell, Willm: Heley."
CH. IX.
102 Troubles in 1617
covered in 161 3. I have shown that Carolus mapped the
south coast of Edge Island in 16 14. In 161 6 a pinnace
rediscovered Edge Island and discovered "other islands
lying to the Northwards as farre as 78 "; and now this
year further discoveries were made up to 79 . A number
of names still lingering on our maps witness the activity of
the Muscovy Company's servants. There is the contested
Wiches Land and there are Alderman Freeman's Inlet and
Deicrow Sound, all named after adventurers of the Company.
Its governor, Sir Thomas Smith, gave his name to the islands
in what is now known as Ginevra Bay, but the name has
been transferred to some small rocks further south. Edge
Island and Heley Sound preserve the names of those well-
known navigators. Stone's Foreland was another name of
the date. It was applied to the east end of the south side
of Edge Island. It survives in the modern Norwegian
and Swedish Stans Foreland, whereby they (and the Dutch
before them) wrongly designate Edge Island. Lee's
Foreland and Cape Barkham were likewise probably named
after persons of the same date.
It is likely, as I have pointed out, that the first dis-
coverers to the eastward wrongly identified Edge Island
and its fringe of rocks and islets with the " Matsyn id est
Plurimae Insillae" of Hondius' and other maps. Matsyn,
as we know, was really Matoschyn, part of Novaja Zemlja,
discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby in 1553. It was set
down on the maps so much too far to the west, that to
confuse it with the later discovered Edge Island was very
easy. This confusion was probably the reason why the
Muscovy Company for fifty years kept claiming that Spits-
bergen had been first discovered, not by Barents, but by
Willoughby more than 40 years earlier.
Of all the explorers of this region Thomas Marma-
duke of Hull is the one we should like to know more
about. Evidently he was one of the boldest and most
successful Arctic navigators of the day. Notwithstanding
the opposition of the Muscovy Company he took his ship
yearly into the forbidden waters and found out new fishing
grounds for himself. Sometimes the Muscovy Company
seems to have employed him. He was the first to land at
many points along the north coast in 161 2. He was one
PVicJie Islands seen 103
of the first to sight Jan Mayen. Probably it was he who
discovered Hope Island in 161 3. While the Muscovy
Company's ships were quarrelling with the Dutch on the
west coast he was quietly " making his voyage " to the
eastward. Duke's Cove (apparently the Gotha Cove of
our chart) may have been one of his resorts on the west
coast of Ed^e Island.
A comparison of the Muscovy Company's map with the
statements of Heley and Edge above quoted enables us to
form a rough guess as to the exploration accomplished this
year. It is clear that the south-east cape of Edge Island
was not reached, still less rounded, for if it had been it would
have been marked on the map. Moreover the Ryk Yse
Islands must have been discovered, and they, as we know,
were not seen till about 1 640-45 \ It follows a fortiori
that this expedition did not discover the islands now known
as King Carl's Land from the south. It was not in this
direction that they reached 79 N. and "discovered an Hand
which he named Witches Hand." The map indicates, what
is likewise prima facie probable, that they devoted chief
attention to the snores of Wybe Jans Water, which they
followed to its northernmost extremity, where they found
the mouth of the narrow and dangerous Heley Sound.
Unfortunately they did not navigate this sound or walk
along it to its eastern extremity ; but it is clear that they
landed here on Barents Island and doubtless both hunted
the reindeer, which the map depicts, and ascended to some
high point of view on a clear day. Heley Sound lies in
about yS° 36' N. They put it in about 79° 10' and made it
run N. instead of E. In fact they made the same mistake
that was made with Hudson's observations when the north
coast which runs east was twisted through a right angle
and described as running north, longitude being thus turned
into latitude and the true latitude of 8o° thereby increased
to 82°. The north end of the Wybe Jans Water runs far
eastward. If it is swung round through a right angle and
stretched a little it can be made almost to reach 79° N.
This, and a little more than this, was what the Muscovy
Company's cartographer did to make the map agree with
the men's statement that they had reached 79° N.
1 Zorgdrager, German edition, p. 200.
CH. IX.
104 Troubles in 1617
From the summit of the hill they climbed, they saw in
the far distance the south point of North East Land, now
called Cape Mohn. They named the land Sir Thomas
Smith Island. The day must therefore have been very
clear. Approximately at the same distance but 30 miles
further south lie the islands now called King Carl's Land.
It seems highly probable that they saw them also and this
was the land named Wiches Land. Unable to o-uess its
distance and perhaps regarding it as the extremity of a
larger land-mass they brought only a verbal account of it,
which the Muscovy Company's cartographer rendered in
the blundering fashion that has caused so much difference
of opinion between English and Swedish geographers.
The Admiralty chart is therefore right to retain the name
of Richard Wiche attached to this group of islands and to
confine to one of them the name of Kong Karl 1 .
The events of 1617 at Spitsbergen of course gave
rise to plenty of discussion and correspondence at home
in the following winter. The directors of the Muscovy
Company seem to have concluded that the best thing
for them to do was to form a permanent settlement
in the north. To that end it appears they obtained,
through Sir John Merrick, British ambassador, a license
from the Czar of Russia, "for certaine of his subiects called
Lappes, a people lyveinge in a very cold clymate and
a barraine soyle," to be sent with some English to dwell at
Spitsbergen 2 . We hear no more of this wise proposition.
It is known that the Muscovy Company tried to bribe men
by the offer of great rewards to winter in Spitsbergen, but
in vain. Then the Company obtained some criminals con-
demned to death, who were promised a reprieve, on con-
dition that they should spend a whole year in Spitsbergen.
They were to be well supplied with food, and other
necessaries and to be generously rewarded on their return
after the year. The men were shipped to the north, but
when the time came for them to be left behind, the horror
of the place was so heavy upon them "that they preferred
to return home and be hanged rather than stay on those
1 See Nathorst's Tva Somar, p. 228; Geographical Journal, Aug. 1899
PP- 155, 177.
2 State Papers, Domestic, James I, Nov. — Dec. 1617, No. 70.
Dutch Protests 105
desolate shores 1 ." We are not informed in what year this
happened, but it must have been between 1625 and 1630 2 .
As soon as the Zeelanders arrived home they made
complaint to the States General, which took up their case
and sent a representative to England to demand redress.
About the same time Sir Andrew Sinclair arrived as am-
bassador from the King of Denmark to challenge the
sovereignty of Spitsbergen 3 . The trouble with Denmark
seems to have been compromised by giving to Sir John
Cunningham 4 , a Danish naval officer, and to some Scotch
partners, a Scotch patent, permitting them to fish for the
whale at Spitsbergen and to import their produce into
Scotland. No doubt Cunning-ham intended to use the
Scotch patent as cover for Danish whalers, after the casual
fashion of those days. The Zeeland representative fell in
with Sinclair or some of the Scotch adventurers and con-
cluded an arrangement for common action. They formed
a company together, hired many of the Muscovy Company's
servants and contracted for shipping and stores. Naturally
the Muscovy Company did not appreciate the threatened
competition. They approached the kindred East India
Company and the two united to put up capital for the next
year's fishery. This action "bluffed" the new company,
which at once broke up, when the Muscovy Company under-
took to take over their contracts for stores and pay ready
money for them. But the result was obtained at too great
cost. The enterprise was now over-capitalised and the bad
season that followed caused the ruin of the Company. The
Zeelanders, thus denied compensation, and disappointed in
their hopes of getting round English opposition, looked
forward to the season of 16 18 more enraged than ever.
o
1 Pelham, God's Power, etc.
2 After the publication of Purchas {vide in. 472) and before Pelham's
adventure.
3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add., p. 553, 7th March, 161 8.
4 "John Cunningham, a Scotchman of notable family, was Captain of the
Trost and Chief Commander of the expedition (the Danish expedition to
Greenland in 1605 and 1606). He is said to have travelled much and far
before he settled in Denmark, where he became a Captain in the Navy in
1603. He left the service in 1619, when he was made Lehnsman of Vardohuus,
that is, Governor of the Province of Finmarken, in the north of Norway. This
post he retained until 165 1, and he died soon after at an advanced age"
(C. C. A. Gosch, Danish Arctic Expeditions (Hakluyt Society), Vol. I. p. xxviii).
CH. IX.
CHAPTER X.
TROUBLES AT SPITSBERGEN IN 1618.
After all this trouble, the Muscovy Company's fleet only
consisted of 13 ships and 2 pinnaces 1 , whilst the Noordsche
Company sent out no less than 19 ships to Jan Mayen and
23 to Spitsbergen 2 . They carried three commissions, one
from Maurice, Prince of Orange, permitting them to whale-
fish in the places they intended without molesting any
other nation, one from the States General authorizing them
to defend themselves if interfered with, and one from their
owners, " wherein they gave them order not only to fish
and defend themselves but also if they were disturbed by
the English or anie other to the damage of a line to the
value of a pennye to take their goodes and bringe them
and the chiefe men and shipp and all with them to
Holland."
The numerous accounts we possess of the events of this
year 3 enable us to discover that, at the opening of the
season the two fleets were distributed as follows : at Horn
Sound, 2 English and 5 Rotterdam ships and one Dutch
man-of-war, the Tunny-fish, Captain Johnson ; at Bell
Sound, Edge with 3 or 4 English ships, one ship of Hoorn,
and one of Enkhuizen ; at Green Harbour, 3 Dutch ships ;
1 Edge in his affidavit says 17.
2 Affidavit, 15th Sept. 161 8 {State Papers, Domestic).
3 The Dutch authorities for the events of this season are quoted by Mailer,
N. Co. p. 217 note. He gives an abstract of their statements. For the English
side see Edge, Dutch Disturbance, in Purchas III. pp. 466-470, and letters from
Salmon, Sherwin and Beversham, printed in the same volume, p. 72>3- State
Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 99 (Sept. 161 8), contains a number of documents
(No. 40 is the most important), depositions of eye-witnesses of the troubles at
the Foreland, Bell Sound, and Horn Sound, etc., from which numerous quotations
are made above. Most of these documents are printed in full in Sir Martin
Conway's Early Voyages to Spitsbergen (Hakluyt Society), pp. 42-65.
At Fair haven 107
at the Foreland, 3 English ships, 5 of Flushing, Delft, and
perhaps Middelburg ; at Fairhaven, 3 of Amsterdam and
one or two English. This leaves 5 Dutch and about 6
English unaccounted for. It is possible to believe that
they may have gone to the eastward, about which region
we hear nothing.
The ships of both nations that went to Fairhaven had
no quarrels worth mention, for they were not near together,
the Dutch being in the north harbour off Smeerenburg, the
English in the south harbour. Their troubles were of
another sort. A letter written on the 12th of July from
James Beversham at Fairhaven to Wm. Heleyat the Fore-
land tells all we care to know. "We are," he says, "and
have been so pestered with Ice these 20 dayes that we
have not beene able to goe out to Sea with our shallops
above twice in the time, neither have we beene able to doe
any good by reason of foule weather and fogs, nor have
seene any more then one whale in all that time, which after
shee was killed, turned us to much trouble, by reason of
foule weather, and forced us at last to leave her in the Ice,
where the Beares made a prey of her, who I feare will
spoyle her before shee be recovered. We have killed six-
teene whales besides, whereof the Flemish Biscainers stole
one, for which they have promised satisfaction, but they are
so shut up with Ice that they are not able to stirre either
Ships or Shallops. All the Sea to the Northward of Hak-
luyt's headland, and both Eastward and Westward thereof
is packt so full of Ice, that I feare it will overthrow our
voyage, and put our ships in much hazard, the Lord release
us of that miserie in due time."
Meanwhile at Bell Sound matters were not proceeding
so peaceably. Edge was there in command of two or
three ships and pinnaces, and we have his own account
of what happened 1 . He says that he came into Bell Sound
on June 3rd and met there the whale-boat of an English
interloper 2 . Hearing that there were Dutch in Horn
Sound, he sent John Ellis with his pinnace thither to bid
them depart. He was on the point of going there himself
when, about June nth, there arrived at Bell Sound the
1 State Papers. Affidavits of Edge, Sherwin, and others.
2 N. Woodcock, of whom we have heard before.
CH. X.
108 Troubles in 1618
Engel of Hoorn and a ship of Enkhuizen. He bade them
go away but they would not, saying that they intended
to fish by force if necessary and that they were "expecting
dailie fower other Flemish shipps and a man-of-war to
come hither." The man-of-war was in fact due, but
the ships of the Amsterdam Chamber, always selfish
in its dealings with the other Chambers, had taken
her with them to Jan Mayen, where her protection was
quite unnecessary. Edge replied that " he would in
noe hande suffer them to put out a shallop. Then they
intreated in regard they had been longe at sea that wee
would permit them three or foure daies to take in a little
wood and water, and then they would departe the country
and not molest anie of the Companie, which the said
Thomas Edge our generall gave them leave to doe.
Under color of which fetcheinge wood and water, they sent
a shallop to Home sound to the States man of warr and
generall of the Flemings." The boat returned with news
that the man-of-war had her hands full at Horn Sound and
could not help them, but her pilot 1 came in the boat to see
Edge. Under his orders the Dutch set out two whale-
boats, which the English took and hauled up on shore.
The pilot accordingly returned to Horn Sound without
having accomplished anything, and we may imagine that
the captain of the Tunny-fish did not become any more
friendly to his English neighbours in consequence. It must
have been at this time that the Dutch at Bell Sound built
a big wooden hut, 80 feet long by 50 feet wide, roofed with
planks, which the English presently captured, pulled down,
and re-erected in a position more convenient for their own
purposes. The Dutch then said that if their whale-boats
were returned to them they would go away and " not staye
in any parte of the countrye. Upon which intreatie and
faithful promise our generall gave them their shallops and
soe aboute the 23rd of June 161 8 they wente from Bel
sounde and went presently to Horn Sound contrarie to
their promise." Edge thereupon set to work killing whales
and making oil, intending later to go to the Foreland and
drive the Zeelanders away thence, but he put off too long,
1 Muller, p. 397.
Edge at Bell Sound 109
and before he was ready to sail he received news of the
English misfortunes there, which we shall presently relate.
All that Edge could then do was to interview the captain
of the man-of-war, who pretended that he knew nothing of
the matter, "seemed sorrowfull to heare such newes," made
certain vague promises, and so departed. After the two
Dutch ships had gone away Sherwin wrote a cock-a-whoop
letter to Heley, saying, " Here came in two Flemmings,
but wee handled them very honestly, but for fear of after-
claps, or had it beene the latter part of the yeere, we would
have handled them better. Now they be gone for Horne-
sound. I would that they had all of them as good a paire
of homes growing on their heads as is in this Country."
Sherwin had heard of the bad time Heley was having
with the Dutch, but was expecting to join him soon,
when he promised to "comfort you with a good couple of
Hennes and a bottle of Canary wine, but I pray bee
carefull of your selfe and keepe you warme, and take heede
the Nodis doe not pick out your eyes." Meanwhile they
at Bell Sound " dranke to you and wish you many a
Venison pasty. We have so little to doe wee feare we
shall all have the scurvy, but we have pulled downe the
Flemmish house and brought it neere, more fit for our
turne."
The Hoorn and Enkhuizen ships when they left Bell
Sound had no idea of sailing home, whatever they may
have promised. On the contrary they went straight to
Horn Sound to take counsel with the man-of-war's captain
and Abraham Dircksz. Leverstein, the general of the
whalers. The five ships at Horn Sound were all from
Rotterdam or Delftshaven. They had already given the
two English ships there a lot of trouble 1 . At the beginning
ol the season the English protested against the presence of
the Dutch, who replied, " Hither we are come to this porte
and in this place will make our voiadge," but declared their
intention of not interfering with the English. After a long
discussion " the Flemings bad them holde their peace, and
saide their shallops they must and would set out and make
a voiadge there, and would place up their coppers by the
1 Affidavit of Johnson, Dridle, and Henderson {State Papers).
CH. X.
1 1 o Troubles in 1 6 1 8
English." They further claimed that "the harbour was
theirs, beeinge given to the Hollanders in the yeare 1614
by Captaine Josep." A claim to use Bell Sound was also
advanced on the same grounds. Finally the captain of
the Tunny-fish put an end to the palaver, saying, " My
good friends, hould your peace ! For hither I am come
with commission from the States to see unto theis men that
they neither doe anie wronge nor take wrongs. And so
longe as they staie I will staye, and when they set saile
I will set saile. For I come not to fish nor to lade any
goodes but to see unto them." To this of course the
whalers had no reply. "The Tunny-fish did keepe a greate
boat alwayes out readie man'd with twentie small shot and
pikes to resist and hinder the English from followeinge
their busines, and to guard the Flemish shallops." It was
claimed that the sailors perpetrated many petty thefts.
When protest was made, the captain of the Tunny-fish
" in scoffeinge manner shrunck up his shoulders at it ; and
afterwards caused divers men with musketts, swordes, and
pikes to enter the English tent, when the men were at rest,
to searche for one of their coopers who had upon some
occasion kil'd a Fleminge "■ — a fairly reasonable proceeding,
one would think. And another time it was claimed that
they came in force at night (in June!) with about 60 armed
men " into the Englishman's tent and carried two English-
men, aboorde the Flemish shipp and put them into the
Bilboes and kepte them there for five or six daies."
Such was the strained state of affairs about June 11th
when the Enkhuizen and Hoorn ships came in, with news
that they had been driven away from Bell Sound. There-
upon followed more discussions, the English vehemently
protesting against such a number of ships fishing in one
harbour. It appears that it was now decided by the Dutch
to take active steps to revenge themselves on the English.
They had three distinct grievances — the damages suffered
in 161 3 and 161 7, for which no compensation was obtain-
able, and the outrage, as they considered it, upon the
Enkhuizen and Hoorn ships this year. Heley, who at
that moment was practically alone at the Foreland, was
the man specially detested for his behaviour last year.
Accordingly they decided to go to the Foreland, capture
Reprisals at Horn Sound 1 1 1
Heley's ship and take everything from him as compensation
for the injuries they had received. About the beginning of
July, Leverstein in the Cat sailed away accompanied by
the two ships of Enkhuizen and Hoorn, and one other,
and escorted by the man-of-war for a short distance. We
shall presently see what they accomplished.
When news came of the events at the Foreland, yet to
be related, one of the English ships at Horn Sound sailed
away home, and the other joined Edge. After their de-
parture the Dutch "burned the Englishes houses, split
their shalloppes, and heaved their caske into the sea."
For losses at Horn Sound the Muscovy Company after-
wards claimed ,£4,480 for 40 tons of whalebone stolen,
and £494. 5s. od. for "318 ton of caske, 170 bundles of
hoopes, 8 shalloppes and two boates, a house worth 15/.
with deale boardes and other provisions to the value of
30/.... all which was sett on fire by the Flemings at their
coming forth of the country 1 ."
To complete the long story of this year's quarrels we
have now to narrate what happened at Sir Thomas Smith's
Bay near the Foreland. Whatever rights the Dutch may
have had, or conceived themselves to have, on the Spits-
bergen coasts in general, it is certain that they had no rights
in the Foreland harbours. Those had been in the sole
and exclusive occupation of the English for eight consecutive
seasons, and, as Heley pointed out, were even marked on
the Dutch charts themselves as the English harbour. It
was an openly aggressive act, therefore, when five Dutch
ships anchored in Sir Thomas Smith's Bay early in June,
the English ships Pleasttre (with captains Salmon and
Heley on board), Elizabeth, and Prudence* 1 (a pinnace),
being already in possession. It was intended to be so.
The Dutch knew, so they stated, what the distribution of
the English was to be. They knew that Heley was to go
to the Foreland. It was for that reason that three of the
five ships that settled beside him were commanded by the
1 State Papers, Domestic, James I (1617-19), Vol. xli. No. 83, also
Vol. xcix. No. 37.
2 The Prudence was still chartered by the Muscovy Company for the
Spitsbergen voyage as late as 1629, as appears from a letter of her master
to Mr Wyche. She served for five months, and received ^90 a month
{Calendar State Papers, Domestic, Add. 1625-49, p. 731).
CH. X.
ii2 Trotibles in 1618
three Zeeland captains Huybrecht Cornelisz, Cornelis De
Cock, and Adriaen Peterson, with whom he had interfered
in Horn Sound in 161 7. There can be little doubt, I think,
that they came up with a definite plan, which was to let
Heley's ships do a season's work, and then with the help
of other Dutch ships brought together from other harbours
to fall upon him, take his stuff away, and carry it home
to Holland as compensation for last year's losses. The
following account of what happened is based upon the
affidavit of Heley, Salmon, and others 1 , corrected by con-
temporary Dutch relations.
From the beginning of the season there was trouble
between the rival whalers. Heley in the Pleasure, and his
two consorts the Elizabeth and the Prudence, " ships of noe
defence haveing no ordnance in them," came into harbour
on June 1st and met there the interloper Sea Horse,
Nicholas Woodcock master, "who had been there off and
on upon the coast above twenty days before and who
departed from there the seaventh of June.... The English
presently, upon their arrivall wente in hande to fitt their
provisions and man'd out all the shallops they could to sea,
cleareinge their shipps, (and) reman'd not expecting the
comeinge of anye Flemings thither. And in foure or five
daies after their arrivall had killed eight or nine whales
being in good forwardness to make a speedie voiadge."
At this time the ice incommoded them as it did the
ships at Fairhaven. "Since our comming into the Bay,"
writes Salmon' 2 , "we have beene much troubled with Ice
and Northerly windes, so as we have not been two dayes
free of Ice. We had a storme Northerly which brought in
much ice, so as we were inclosed withall eight dayes : there
went such a Sea in the Ice that did beate our ships very
much for foure and twentie houres, that I did thinke we
should have spoyled our ships : but I thanke God we
cannot perceive any hurt at all it hath done to us ; also
we have broken two anchors with the Ice ; we have killed
13 whales, but they yeeld but little, in regard of the Ice
which hath much hindred us in our worke, for in ten dayes
we could not doe any worke the Bay was so full of Ice :
1 State Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 99 (Sept., 1618), No. 40.
2 To Sherwin, June 24 (July 4), Purchas ill. 733.
At the Foreland 113
the Bay was full as low as Fox-nose, and now at this present
the Bay is full of shattered Ice, the windes hanging
Northerly keepes it in."
On June 19 (9) the three Zeeland ships came in, being
the Fortune of 400 tons "with eighteene cast pieces besides
brasse bases and murtherers, the St Peter (300 tons,
18 guns), and the Salamander (200 tons, 14 guns), who
came to anchor close by the English shipps and presently
fitted their shallops out to sea, haveinge great store of
Biskeners, and set foure or five shallops from each shipp
and landed their caske and other provisions. Which the
English seeinge, the saide William Heley, sent for the
Captaine of the Admirall of the Flemings, willing him to
rowe aboorde, who retourned answer he had other busines
to do. Then the saide William Heley went ashoore and
toulde those Flemings that were ashoore they must not
remaine there, willing them to wish their Captaine come a
shoare. They answered thither they were come and there
they must stay and would place their coppers close by the
English, saieinge, 'Where is your Dragon 1 nowe ? You
thinke to doe as you did the last yeare, but we are fitted for
you nowe, and wilbe even with you for the last yeares
work." Presently Cornells De Cock and Adriaen Peterson
came ashore and Heley talked with them, saying amongst
other things, " There was not any Dutch or Flemish ship in
this harbour before. It is called 'the English Bay' by the
Flemings themselves, and so set down in their plats or sea-
charts 2 ." His protests, however, were addressed to deaf
ears. The Dutch say that when they landed their coppers
and were for building a hut the English interfered and
prevented them 3 , which, considering the overwhelming
force of the Zeelanders, is unlikely.
It was not till June 21 (11) that Heley met Huybrecht
Cornelisz on shore. It is stated that he was drunk at the
time. At all events he behaved in an excited manner, laid
hand on one of the English coppers and called his men to
come and pluck it up and carry it away ; and he called
1 Heley's armed ship of the previous year.
2 I have not yet been able to find any Dutch whalers' charts of Spitsbergen
of so early a date as i6i8. The earliest I know is that engraved by A. Goos in
1620.
3 Memoire in Muller, Mare Clansu?n, p. 372.
C. ch. x. 8
1 1 4 Troubles in 1 6 1 8
Heley a "Skellam 1 Rogue; and with a knife ready
drawne in his pocket stab'd at him ; and had there kil'd
him if Michaell Greene had not held him by force, and
diverse English come thither presently. And then he bid
the English 'fish, fish,' and he and his associates would
take away all their oyle and would sinke them presently,
and so in greate rage departed." Next day there was some
kind of apology made by Huybrecht, who asked Heley to
give him an old boat, which he agreed to do, and so for the
nonce the quarrel was patched up.
At this time two Middelburg ships came in and anchored
with the others, " the one haveinge fourteene caste pieces,
and the other twelve, beeinge shipps of greate burthen,
who likewise placed up Coppers, man'd out shallops, and so
over preste the English with a greate number of boates,
seekinge all the meanes they could to overthrowe the
voiadge of the English. Yet through God's blessinge and
their painefull labors they kill'd more whales then all the
Flemings and were like to make a greate voiadge there if
they could have beene in quiet."
The next quarrel was about a whale, said to have been
killed by the Biscayers in English employ but appropriated
by Huybrecht. Heley spoke to him about it. In reply he
" saide if shee belonged to the English he would restore
her, and saide he was very sorrie for the former wronge he
offred and woulde not have donn so much for one hundred
poundes if he had not beene animated thereunto by his
men. Saying, he was in drincke, and desired it mighte be
forgotten and to be friends, proffringe greate kindnes to
the English, but kepte the whale."
It is probable enough that the Zeelanders did not love
Heley, but they seem to have been friendly with other
English officers. Thus Salmon wrote, " Here is five sayle
of Flemminges, which have fourteene and sixteene pieces
of Ordnance in a ship ; and they doe man out 18 shallops ;
so that with theirs and ours here is 30 shallops in the Bay,
too many for us to make a voyage : there is at least 1 500
tunnes of shipping of the Flemmings ; we have reasonable
1 Dutch Schelm = rogue.
" She tauld thee weel thou wast a skellum,
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum." (Burns, Tarn O^Shanter.)
At the Foreland 115
good quarter with them, for we are merry aboord of them,
and they of us ; they have good store of sacks (?sack), and
are very kinde to us, proffering us anything that we want.
I am very doubtfull of making a voyage this yeere, yet I
hope Crosseroad 1 will helpe us for one ship, the Company
must take another course the next yeere : if they meane to
make any benefit of this Country, they must send better
ships that must beat these knaves out of this Country, but
as farre as I can understand by them, they mean to make a
trade of continuance of it :...we will let them rest this yeere,
and let who will take care the next yeere, for I hope not to
trouble them."
On one occasion when Heley and Smith were on board
De Cock's ship, De Cock "said that our king of England
was a Scotchman." At this point the official of the Court
of Admiralty adds in the margin, " A gross and intolerable
abuse to his Majesty! " He further said that King James'
picture " stood at Flushinge with an emptie purse by his
side. Which words the saidd English not brookeninge the
said Cock to stopp their mouthes would presently fall down
on his knee and drincke half a grlasse of wine to the Kinoes
Majestie's healthe, and sit and drinke half a glasse of wine
to the Prince of Orrange his healthe."
It is clear that thus far Heley was in no fear of being
overpowered, for it was not till July 4 (June 24) that he
sent a boat with letters to Edge and Sherwin at Bell Sound
asking for help. If Edge had come at once the upshot
would have been different, but he sent a letter, which
arrived on July 12 (2), telling Heley to inform the Dutch,
that if they did not depart he would presently come and
turn them out. To this message they replied, "We don't
care. Let him come and do his worst. We will stay and
fish. Our force is greater than yours." It seems clear,
however, from the statements of the Dutch themselves that
the prospect of Edge's coming precipitated matters. At
this time Heley sent the Elizabeth away to a harbour at a
distance of 8 leagues, "whither" the Dutch "sent shallops
likewise, where she had beene full laden with an overplus,
if they would have suffered her there in quiet and whither
1 The small ship Prude7ice was there.
CH. x. 8—2
u6 Troubles in 1618
they sent to take her and so forced her to departe out of
the countrie."
The four Dutch ships, which we have seen departing
from Horn Sound came into the Foreland harbour on July
26 (16). It will be remembered that two of them were the
ships that Edge had driven away from Bell Sound. They
anchored close by Heley's ship the Pleasure, which was
now quite alone, the Prudence being in Cross Road. "The
Admirall of which foure Flemminges (the Cat) caused a
pointe of warr to be sounded as he came by the English
Viceadmirall, and let fall his anchor in her quarter, close
by her ; and one of the other shipps harde by in the bowe
of her." Abraham Dircksz. Leverstein, captain of the Cat,
seems thenceforward to have taken the lead among the
Dutch. Heley says that Leverstein was a man of "bad
carriadge and mean condicion," very inferior to the other
captains who put him forward for that reason, wishing thus
to escape responsibility for a nasty business. He adds that
he was "a simple fellowe and one that had beene saile-
maker but two yeares before, and one so addicted to drincke
that the Captaine of the man of warr saide he had seene
him druncke twentie daies together." All this was prob-
ably mere scandal, for Leverstein was the son of one of the
chief Dutch adventurers 1 . The Dutch, on the other hand,
called Heley " een Jonck ende outrequidant per soon sick zeer
violentelyck comporterende" a description that he would not
have accepted any more than Leverstein Heley's.
On July 27 (17) the Dutch held a council, "where they
drew orders for surpriseing and takeinge the English," but
the Enkhuizen captain refused to join them, saying " he
came not to robb men but to fish for a voiadge," and so
" weyed anchor and wente out of the harbor." The meeting
of the Dutch captains then sent for Heley, who, after
many refusals, declarations that they would have to come
and fetch him by force, and the like, ultimately went to
them in company with Salmon and Wilkinson. He was
thereupon informed that the Dutch intended "to take all
the oile and goodes the English had there, and if he would
yeelde, then they would be table brothers and friends ; if
1 Muller, N. Co. p. 391 note.
An angry Dispute 117
not they would presently haule aboorde and sinke him —
Presently Hubrighte, useinge his former language of Skel-
lam Rogue, made shew and proffered two or three times to
goe out of the cabben and to sinke our shipp whilst we
were in conference together." High words followed. The
Dutch told " us that the countrie was theirs, askinge us how
we durste doe as we had doone formerly in their countrie ;
and though the Hollanders had lefte it, they would not
loose it. Now we should not put them by it, they beeinge
the first discoverers thereof. And if we came againe and
fish there anie more it should bee in some such harbors as
they would allot us after they had made a devision of the
countrie....
" Before we went of from their shipp side, they had laid
out two warps, one from the generall and the other from
Cock, and so heaved aboorde of us ; and there offred, with
weapons drawne to enter our ship, shee beeinge all open
and unpriddye, and very few men aboorde of her, rideinge
with yardes and top-masts downe. Yet not likeinge so
well to enter they fell from the side again and continued
their warps fast till the 18th day at nighte. And then
beeinge much winde, we sent for some of our sea-men that
were neere hande to come aboorde, who presently hauled
up their boates and came by lande, a very bad journey."
"The 19th daye of Julie in the morneinge, beeinge
Sonday, wee got up our top-masts and fitted our shipp soe
well as we could to defend ourselves. It beeinge then
faire weather and little winde they put abroade their wast
cloathes, bloodie colors, and discharged diverse small
shott, layed out warps to heave cleere one of another
and brought five broade sides," those of the Fortune, St
Peter, Salamander, Cat, and Engel, " to beare on us, of
greate force, hemminge us in and overlayeinge our kedger
to keepe us we should not weye." Thereupon a further
summons to yield was sent, and more discussion followed.
F inally, " Master Salmon went aboarde the Generall, think-
inge to have founde him in a better minde, but contrarily
he founde him readie to begin, saieinge his glasse was
turned one out and the other halfe run, and if we did not
yeelde before that was out he would begyn ; and if we
shott a shot againe, he would pilladge and use us cruelly.
CH. x.
1 1 8 Trotibles in 1 6 1 8
And one aboarde of him (beeinge either the Master of the
shipp or rather the States man of wars pilott) saide, ' Let
us begin, and not loose any more time.'
"Then, as soone as Mr. Salmon came aboorde, the
generall began to let flie, and the rest seconded him, so fast
as they could ply their ordnance, musketts, and murtherers ;
and shott divers at our Flagg, and through our shipps hull,
and killed us a man in the fore top, looseinge our fore
topsaile before we shot at them againe, for that our men
were most busie in seekeinge to set saile that we might the
better have dealte with them. And if God had not shewed
his greate mercie towards us, they had then spoiled most of
our men 1 , and blowne up our shipp. And so they con-
tinued, still shooteinge and killinge and spoileinge our men.
And haveinge no sooner plide our broade side on them, and
got our shipp under saile through them, and makeinge our
ordnance readye againe, but they shot our sailes downe
(and) cut all their cables, followeinge and forceinge us
either to rune a shoare or come to an anchor, bideinge us
stop our leaks to keepe us from sinkeinge. We then, bee-
inge unable to make resistance againste so manie, they
came aboorde of us, armed, and disarmed our ship of all
her ordnance, powder, and munition, comandeinge our men
to goe ashoare, pilladgeinge everye thinge they could laie
hands on, drinkeinge out our beere, carrieinge away our
victualls, and doeinge what pleased themselves. Which the
saide William Heley beeinge much agrieved at, tould the
Generall, although he had taken the shipp, he hoped he
would not suffer his men to carrie away poore mens cloathes
and our victualls, and drincke out our beere, haveinge little
enough to carrie them home. And bid the Generall if he
would have them drinke, to send beere from his owne shipp,
for he would not allow them anie there. The Generall
replied, ' How dare you denie my men beare or speake to
me ? I will presently send and fetch your beare out of your
shipp,' and proffered to breake up our bread rome (room),
and many other violences too intolerable."
" Further... the saide Generall and the other commanders
of the Fleminges beeinge in the Pleasure cabin, and seeinge
1 Edge says there were only seven on board, but perhaps he refers to
July 17th.
English Ships captured 1 1 9
the picture of Sir Thomas Smithe, Knight, there, demanded
whose image it was. The said William Heley toulde them
it was the picture of the worthie Governor of their com-
panie of merchants in England, and one he hoped would
seeke meanes to have our wronges redressed and sufficient
satisfaction for the injuries sustained. ' Oh ' ! saide they,
' that Sir Thomas Smith is a greate man. He hath money
enough to lend the Kinge. He can do what he will with
speakinge. What care we for him ? ' So haveinge taken
away all our oile, fyns, ordnance, powder, and diverse other
things, as per the particulers appeareth, overthroweinge our
whole voiadge and takeinge the other shipp Prudence there
in companie with us, they bid us goe kill more whales for
ourselves if wee would.
" And after our shipp was taken, worde beeinge brought
to the Generall that some of the English men were kil'd, he
said it was no matter and they were all kil'd ; sayinge they
had time enough to yielde, and that he shott five or sixe
shott at their flagg before he shot the shipps hull For a
farewell, as one of our shallops was goeinge ashoare to fill
some freshe water, they shot a greate shot throwe her to
spoile the men in her." They finally departed and left the
English on Aug. 3 (July 24). It was thus Heley 's turn
this year to sail home ballasted with stones.
What the damage actually done by the Dutch amounted
to is difficult to arrive at. They say they took 470 quar-
teels of oil, a small quantity of dirty whalebone, and the
armament of the Pleasure. The English claim for damages
was as follows 1 :
Taken from the Shipp Pleasure. £ s. d.
100 tons of oil at ^15 1500 o o
7 coils of rope at £4 28 o o
20 New Lances at 5/- . 500
1 Fowling Peece . . . . . . . . 1 10 o
Beer, Steward's stores, and other Provisions . . . 20 o o
1554 10 o
From the Shipp Prudence.
30 tons of oil at ,£15 450 o o
1 ton of beer 300
453 o o
1 State Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 41, No. 83, and Vol. 99, No. 37.
CH. x.
i2o Troubles in 1618
From the shore in Sir T. Smith's Bay.
33 tons of oil at ,£15 495
Blubber which would have made at least 40 tons of oil
at ,£15 . ; . 600
Fynnes (whalebone) of 130 whales, being the gathering of
the fynnes in that harbor 3 yeeres before at a ton for
each whale, 130 tonnes at 12c/. per lb. (,£112 per ton) . 14560
£ s. d.
15555 o o
These sums added to the ,£4,974. $s. od. claimed for damages
at Horn Sound made a total of ,£22,536. 155. od. ; but the
Muscovy Company's clerks made a mistake in their addition
and the sum claimed was ,£100 more.
They further claimed ,£43,800 on the following grounds,
though this part of their claim was not seriously pressed
and was dismissed by King James. "In primis the Com-
pany provided the last yeere 2,600 tonnes of caske, to-
gether with the like quantity of shipping, for the bringing
home of much oyle and fynnes, but the disturbance of the
Flemings was such in all the harbours as that there is not
brought into England above 600 tonnes of oyle, so that the
Company is damnified by their disturbance, through inforc-
ing them out of their harbours in the cheese time of the
yeere to the cost at least of 1,800 tonnes of oyle at 15/. per
ton is 27,000/. and 150 tonnes of fynnes at \2d. per lb.
16,800/. in all is ,£43,800.
Some totall is ,£66,436. \$s. od.
Besides the wounding and killing of one man, with the
spoyle of their shipping and their furniture to the great
damage of the owners, which they are ready to make
knowne, viz. as Ordinance, powder, musketts, lances, etc. to
the vallue of " (unstated).
The Dutch were probably right in contending that this
claim was exaggerated.
The Dutch divided the plunder//^ rata among the five
ships which had taken part in the exploit and carried it
safely home, where it was handed over to the Dutch
Admiralty and officially partitioned between the four
Chambers that sent out those ships.
Some of the Dutch whalers hung about the Spitsbergen
coast after the main body of the fleet had sailed. Wilkinson
in the Prudence, as soon as he was set free, went to work
English Damages 121
killing whales again and boiling down oil, so he cannot
have been deprived of his equipment. On his way home
he was stopped by three Dutch ships, who called him on
board and kept him for 16 hours "and sent men aboorde to
ransacke and searche his shipp, threateninge to carrie him
into harbor againe and take all he had then in him, and
useinge him very unkindlie."
The worst individual sufferer was Robert Salmon, for
he was the owner of the Pleasure and depended largely on
her for his livelihood. He said in his complaint that the
Dutch did " take away all herr ordnance, powder, shott,
musketts, piks, cables, sailes, and all other provisions what-
soever, and did so batter an.d spoile her with ther ordnance,
together with the takling and Apparrell that shee was in
greate danger of sinkeinge... to the utter undooing of your
poore petitioner his wife and children." In the end he got
back his ordnance and 3,600 florins to be divided between
him and an unnamed Scotsman. Salmon and other English
whalers believed that Sir Thomas Smith Bay was thence-
forward unlucky. Thus in 1621 Salmon wrote, "I doe
verily persuade my selfe that God is much displeased for
the blood which was lost in this place, and I feare a per-
petuall curse still to remaine yet." Catcher, in 1633, wrote
that " manie say still it is impossible to make a voyage" in
the same bay " by reason that the Flemings shed blood
there 1 ."
The general result of the season was not good either for
Dutch or English, cargoes being small, but the Dutch com-
forted themselves by relating the tale of their exploits. We
may be sure they lost nothing in the telling. Carleton, the
English envoy to the Hague, relates 2 , " Nous auons en ces
iours passez la nouuelle chantee icy a la Haye, a bouche
ouverte et visage asseure, dans la Court, et par les rues,
avec les particularitez tant des pieces d'artillerie, et des
tonneaux d'huyle prises et divisees en mer, comme des
hommes tuez et blessez, et le tout receu avec grand ap-
plaudissement et triumphe, comme d'une victoire gaignee
sur les ennemis. Eo audaciae perventum est." In England
loud complaints were raised against the Dutch, not only for
1 Purchas III. 735, 737. 2 Muller, N. Co. p. 218.
CH. X.
122 Troubles in 1618
their doings in Spitsbergen, but for the injuries inflicted by
them on English traders in the East Indies. King James
took the matter in hand. Protests were lodged at the
Hague. Glad though the Dutch no doubt were, to have
humbled the Muscovy Company's pride, they did not want
a serious quarrel with England. Commissioners were
accordingly sent at once to London " to settle the East
Indian and Greenland disputes 1 ,'' and the old diplomatic
wrangle began again.
The Dutch representatives were instructed to work for
a regulation of the Spitsbergen fishery and a division of the
bays. It was March before the question came to a hearing,
and July before the King pronounced his decision. This
was done with some ceremony on July 15th in the hall of
the Merchant Tailors' Company, by Lord Digby and other
commissioners appointed for that purpose. The upshot of
it was that King James adhered to his claim of sovereignty
over Spitsbergen, but would not enforce it for three years,
during which interval both English and Dutch were to have
access to the fishery. The Dutch were to return the stolen
goods within 3 months or their value ,£22,000, and to pay
damages within 3 years, and then the Muscovy Company
was likewise to make restitution, " forasmuch as the goods
taken heretofore by the English from the Dutch... were
taken by His Majesty's Warrant and authoritie," whilst
those "taken by the Dutch from the English Anno 1618...
were taken by way of depredacon and without any warrant
from their superiors 2 ."
Neither within three months nor within three years was
restitution made or damages paid, for there was really no
force to compel such payment. The fault was throughout
the English Government's. If it meant to annex Spits-
bergen it ought to have sent men-of-war to protect its
whalers, as the Dutch did. The real fact was that the
English Navy was in a bad way. Here is a report of the
condition of the Navy in this very year 161 8.
" The King's navy in charge uppon the books of ordi-
nairie payments containeth ships and names of ships (sic) in
al of al sorts — 43 ; whereof 29 are esteemed serviceable/'
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add. 1611-18, p. 576.
2 State Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 109 (May — July, 1619), Nos. 122, 135.
The Kings Navy in 1618 123
though some need repairs; "the other 14 are al decayed
and unserviceable to bee put out of charge and new built in
their roome. The serviceable are
4 Ships royal —
Prince royal ....
Beare
Merhoneur ....
Anne- Royal ....
9 great ships from 700 to 800 tons.
4 midling ships from 400 to 250 tons.
3 small ships from 200 to 150 tons. {
6 pinnaces from 100 to 20 tons.
Total 1 1,410 tons, 5,155 men* at sea in the effective ships.
So it appeareth that the Navie is now weaker then it was
the last of Q. Eliz. by 6 good ships, a lighter, and a ketch,
and in tonnage 3,250 tonnes, beside the decay of the
gallies."
Tons.
Men at Sea
1200
500
900
800
800
500
400
400
CH. X.
CHAPTER XL
PROGRESS OF THE WHALING INDUSTRY AT
SPITSBERGEN.
The reported language of King James' decision does
not tell us under what terms Dutch and English were to
fish together in Spitsbergen during the three neutral years.
Before that decision had been pronounced, however, the
whalers of both nations were at work. One of the Dutch
propositions for a settlement had been that Spitsbergen
should be divided at Cape Cold on Prince Charles' Fore-
land, and that all north of that should belong to one
country ; all south to the other 1 . What actually happened
was that the Dutch in 1619 and thenceforward confined
themselves to the north-west corner and north coast, and
that the English kept all the other west coast bays. About
the fishery round Edge Island we hear nothing.
Thus in 1619 eleven Dutch and Danish ships occupied
Mauritius or Dutch Bay and its neighbourhood 2 . The
Danes sent up two ships furnished with a passport from
the King; " Ausquels navires alors pour certain regard
fust permis et admis (toutes fois sans prejudice) de faire la
Pesche des Baleines, avec ceux de ces Paijs avecq deux
navires et pas d'avantage 3 ." We may conclude that more
sheds were erected at Smeerenburg (just opposite to where
poor Andree set up his balloon-house), and that Blubber-
town began to take shape, the Dutch occupying the east
half of the shore, the Danes the west half. The English
1 Middlehoven's map of 1634 shows this division, and may be a copy of a
map sent over with the Commissioners in 1618.
2 This year three Dutch men-of-war convoyed the whaling fleet. In 1620
only one, afterwards none for four years. Muller, p. 100.
3 Memorial quoted by Muller, N. Co. p. 407.
*<w Ji
Ice-cliff at the end of a glacier in Recherche Bay, from a
photograph by Mr C. T. Dent.
i6ig] A fatal Accident 125
fleet under Edge consisted of nine ships and two pinnaces.
They occupied Fairhaven or the English harbour (five
ships), Sir Thomas Smith Bay, Bell Sound, and Horn Sound.
They took up a Russian house to erect at Sir Thomas
Smith Bay, where Heley was again in charge. The season
was destined to be an unlucky one. The concentration of
so many ships in the north-west began to frighten the whales
and "put them by their usual course." We shall presently
see that within 20 years the whales entirely forsook the
north-west angle of Spitsbergen for this reason. The five
English ships at Fairhaven did badly. There were few
whales at the Foreland. Heley had some trouble there
with the Russian house, and received instructions " that, if
you cannot set it up, that then you should make an English
house of it, and to place the post of a deales length, and to
be three deales in length, and so much in breadth, and so
to cover it with deales the next yeare, and so he (Edge)
thinketh that it will make two frames : also hee could wish
that you would remove the Coppers more up into the Bay";
all which is somewhat obscure.
At Bell Sound a dreadful accident occurred to one of the
ships (Mr Bush's ship), aground off the end of a glacier.
The following is John Chambers' description of the event
in a letter written to Heley on June 16th :
" I am forc't to write in teares unto you for the losse of
our men, bv the most uncouth accident that ever befell unto
poore men. The 13th of June last we were put ashore in
the Ice Bay, our Shallops being not aboord : but as soone
as wee heard of it, we made what haste we could, and haled
our shallops upon the Ice, and went aboord our ship. By
that time we had beene there an houre, making what
meanes we could to get her out, a maine peece of the Cliffe
falling, the fearefullest sight that ever I beheld beeing then
aboord, expecting nothing else but death, with all the rest
that were in her : But God of his great mercie and Provi-
dence delivered us, that were not then appointed to dye,
that were past all hope of life ; for the Ice fell so high and
so much, that it carried away our fore-Mast, broke our
maine-Mast, sproung our Bouldstrit, and fetcht such a
careene that she heaved a piece of Ordnance over-boord
from under our halfe Decke, hove me over-boord amongst
CH. XI.
126 Marmadukes Misfortune [1619
the Ice in all the sea, and yet I thanke the Lord I was
never hurt with a piece of Ice, although it pleased God
they were spoyled (wounded) and killed close by me
The men that are killed are these, my Mate Money,
Nicholas Greene, and Allin the butcher. There be many
more hurt, which I hope will recover it, by the helpe of
God and the meanes of a good surgeon."
After this accident things did not go well, for they were
pestered with ice, apparently in every harbour down the
coast. Northerly winds kept the harbour in Bell Sound,
which they call Ice Bay (the modern Recherche Bay), full of
ice. Easterly winds filled Horn Sound. The South Cape was
so infested with ice that an attempt to get eastward failed.
"This Ice," we read, "hath put in young Duke (Marma-
duke) of Hull into Home sound, his ship being much torne
with the Ice His voyage is utterly overthrowne,
for he hath lost one shallop with sixe men, and another
shallop broken with the Ice, his Ruther (rudder) irons
being all broken, his Steeme broke away close to the
Woodinafs." This reference to Marmaduke further con-
firms the suggestion already made that the Hull men at
this time were wont to frequent the eastern region, and that
is why they seldom came in contact with the Muscovy
Company's men. A ship of Flushing was likewise " beaten
very sore " by the ice and thought likely to be wrecked.
Nor was this the end of the year's accidents, for a boat sent
with letters between Edge and Heley was likewise cast
away and all the men lost 1 .
These serious troubles probably gave their sufferers
something to think of besides their old score against the
Dutch. Yet that was not forgotten ; for Salmon (the chief
sufferer in 1618) on the 15th of July wrote to Heley, "I
understand by Master Catcher's letter that there is eleaven
saile of Flemmings and Danes" at Mauritius Bay. "I doubt
not but we shall call them to account of how many tunnes
of Oyle they have made, as they did call us the last Voyage
to account. My love is such unto them that I protest I
1 So says Edge in Purchas til 469; but it is difficult to understand, for the
boat sent by Heley to Edge arrived safely at Bell Sound on July 5th, and we
possess a letter sent back by the same boat to Heley, which must therefore
likewise have arrived safely.
1620] Dutch Enterprise 127
could wish with all my heart that we might goe and see
them, and to spend my best blood in the righting of our
former wrongs. Also I understood by Robert Foxe that
Adrian of Flushing is one of them. I should be very glad
to see him that I might balance the account with him."
To complete the catalogue of the Muscovy Company's
misfortunes in 16 19, one of their ships was lost near
Yarmouth on her way home. To make matters worse the
Dutch succeeded in smuggling their oil into England and
actually underselling the Company in its own market ! The
Company in disgust put up their whaling rights and plant
for sale. They were bought in by four of the brethren,
Ralph Freeman, Benjamin Decrow, George Strowd, and
Thomas Edge. Henceforward Edge seems to have gone
no more on active service but to have acted as manager at
home.
The whaling fleet sent out in 1620 by the new partner-
ship under the command of William Goodlad or Goodlard
and Heley consisted of seven ships. This is the first time
we hear of Goodlad. His name will be of frequent occur-
rence in succeeding years. Edge briefly states that the
English ships, " by reason of great store of Flemings and
Danes in the Northernmost Harbours, had ill successe to
the northwards and were forced to passe from Harbour to
Harbour to make a Voyage, but could not, and so returned
home halfe laden with 700 tuns of oyle." As the value of
this cargo, the corresponding amount of whalebone being
added, was over £1 7,00c) 1 , it is probable that the season's
work was not unprofitable.
A letter written from Catcher 2 at Fairhaven to Heley
enables us to deduce some not unimportant facts. The
Dutch had only two great ships, protected by a man-of-war
off Smeerenburg. Yet they manned out 18 whale-boats.
It may reasonably be concluded that most of these boats
and their equipment were permanently kept at Smeeren-
burg, seeing that three whale-boats to a ship was the usual
allowance then. The two ships must have brought up
double crews, as was their later habit during the great days
of Smeerenburg. The Danes, this year, did not occupy
1 Reckoning oil at ,£15 per ton and whalebone at ^1 12 per ton.
2 Purchas in. 735.
CH. XI.
128 A French Company [1621
Mauritius Bay in company with the Dutch, but were
with the English in Fairhaven. When Catcher wrote
there were two Danish ships arrived and two more
expected. These ships doubtless belonged to a Copen-
hagen whaling company just founded. One Braem was at
the head of it. The English in 1619 had agreed to let the
Danes fish with them as some concession to the King of
Denmark's claim to sovereignty over Spitsbergen. They
made it a condition, however, " that this liberty must not
be transferred to any other nation by them 1 ." It appears
that the Danes did not abandon their rights to their huts
on the Smeerenburg flat.
In the following year, 162 1, the four English adven-
turers again sent seven ships besides one to the south-east
for discovery, about whose doings we know nothing. They
made 1,100 tons of oil, which must have given them a good
profit, though it was stated that the Flemings and Danes
" upset their voyage " at Fairhaven. The whales came in
well at the Foreland, and six were killed, but then no more
were seen for a long time. " We have not seen a whale
this 14 days," writes Salmon 2 , "and faire weather is as
scarce as the whales ; for ten daies together nothing but
blow, sometimes southerly and sometimes northerly."
Heley, for the first time, was not at the Foreland, but at
Bell Sound, which now became and henceforward remained
the English head-quarters. English and Dutch had now
finally settled down at the sites they were to occupy as long
as the fishery lasted.
This year there was founded the French " Royale et
Generale Compagnie du Commerce pour les voyages de
long cours es Indes occidentales, la pesche du corail en
Barberie, et celle des baleines." Whether it sent whalers
to Spitsbergen we cannot say. Nothing is heard of them.
This company likewise traded with the north of Russia.
The same English fleet, with the same enigmatic ship
for discovery, went up in 1622. By this time East Spits-
bergen must surely have been well known, yet we never
hear of the ships of either the Dutch or English companies
going to fish there. Modern explorers have found traces
1 State Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 105 (Jan. — Feb. 1619), No. 13.
2 Purchas III. 735.
1 62 2] The Disco Fishery 129
of many cookeries on the south coast of Edge Island and
the adjacent islands, but we shall probably never know to
whom they belonged, or what adventures and tragedies
happened there. It may be regarded as certain that the
Hull men systematically frequented that region. A large
bay in the west side of Edge Island is called Disco Bay, a
name also associated with the Dutch whaling industry in
Greenland. What Disco means I have been unable to
learn 1 . Zorgdrager alone preserved any information about
this fishery. He says:
"At this time of the Greenland company 2 there was an
important fishery below the south ice, east of Spitsbergen
and in the Disco. It was at that time sometimes pursued
as far as Novaja Zemlja with very good results ; but then
there were more whales by Spitsbergen than by Zemlja.
This I have been told, not only by several old captains and
harpooners but also by my pilot Tennis Battisz, who was
with me in the year 1693, then an old man. His father,
William Ys, had served the (Noordsche) Company as com-
mander. This man told me with much detail how the Com-
pany's ships, shortly before and also during his time, used to
ride at anchor at Disco and below Half-moon Island, and sent
out their whale-boats provisioned with all things necessary
for several days to fish east of Spitsbergen, along a great
iceberg (King John's glacier of our chart), and thus, though
with much toil with sailing and rowing, towed many fish to
the ships that lay in the bays. They were afraid at that
time to go with their ships among the ice, so that the ice-
fishery was then altogether unknown. If the ice came
driven along by a north-east wind, they raised anchor and
tied before it with the ships out to sea. But when some of
the bravest sailors, remaining behind the rest, let the small
ice drive by them, the whales came with it to them into the
bays and many were killed near the ships 3 ." It was thus
perhaps that they were ultimately led to build stronger
ships and venture with them into the ice, whereby the
1 It appears for the first time on Doncker's map of 1663, where it is written
Dusko. It occupies the position of the older " Duckes Coue" (Duke's Cove).
Duke was Marmaduke, the Hull whaling skipper, whose habit it was to fish
somewhere to the eastward.
2 By this he means the Noordsche Company, 1614-1641.
3 Zorgdrager, German edn. pp. 172, 173.
C. CH. XI. o
130 A terrible Wreck [1622
whole method of the whale-fishery was revolutionized.
That change, however, was not made till long after the
year 1622, with which we are now concerned.
The season opened calamitously for the English. " One
of their greatest ships of burthen, whereof John Masson
was master, having in her 200 tons of Caske, Coppers, and
divers provisions, was unfortunately cast away against a
piece of Ice, upon the coast of King James Newland, foure
leagues from the shoare, in which ship perished 9 and 20
men, and the remainder being 3 and 20 were by the provi-
dence of the Almightie miraculously saved in a Shallop,
coasting 30 leagues afterwards to meet with some other
ships to find some succour, having neither bread nor
drincke, nor any meanes whereby to get any food : and so
remayned 3 dayes in extreme cold weather, being in a small
Boat ready to bee swallowed up of every wave, but that
God provided better for them. Many of which people their
hands and feet rotted off, being frozen, and they died in the
Countrey. The rest of the ships returned home laden,
bringing in them 1300 tons of Oil, yet the foresaid cheife
Harbour (Fairhaven) could not performe their full lading
there, by reason of the Flemmings and Danes being to the
Northwards as aforesaid which doth yeerely hinder the
Companies ships from making a Voyage 1 ."
The Dutch Company's charter had expired at the end
of 1620. For the next two seasons they seem to have
worked under provisional protection, as the Chambers could
not agree among themselves about the proportion in which
the year's cargo was to be divided amongst them. But in
1622 they came to an agreement, and obtained thereupon
from the States General a new monopoly, to last 1 2 seasons
till the end of 1634. In this document, which is dated
22nd Dec. 1622 2 , it is recited that in recent years the Com-
pany had sent ships to Novaja Zemlja as well as Spits-
bergen, which confirms the opinion expressed above that
the eastern fishery had already been exploited by the
Dutch.
Probably what moved the Dutch to close their ranks
and unite their forces was the menacing attitude of the
1 Purchas III. p. 469.
2 Printed at length in Zorgdrager, German ed. pp. 212-214.
1 622] More Disputes 131
English. James I had agreed to a modus vivendi for three
years, during which time he stipulated that the Dutch must
make certain restitutions and payments to the Muscovy
Company. These were never made, and the three years
were now expired. Accordingly on August 8th, 1622, we
find the whaling fellowship appealing to the King to extend
his authority for their assistance 1 . Whereupon the King
published a declaration 2 that he will be compelled to take
action unless the States speedily send over a commissioner
to unite with Sir Noel de Caron in the settlement of the
affair. He will consider any infringement upon the fishery
to be a breach of treaty. These bold words, however, were
easily estimated at their true value by the Dutch.
The London Company this winter again tried to restrain
the Hull whalers from going to Spitsbergen, and were so
far successful as to obtain an order from the Privy Council
to the Mayor of Hull to prevent the whalers from sailing.
The Mayor and Corporation replied with a letter, dated
April 17th, 1623, in which they stated that they had obeyed
the Council's instructions and had not permitted Thomas
Anderson, Richard Warner, or any other of the town to
trade to Spitsbergen, or elsewhere within the privileges of
the Muscovy Company; "but the whole town and adjacent
country remonstrate against this restriction of their trade as
ruinous to them and their families, their ships being pre-
pared to go this year as usual to those parts, of which they
profess to be the first discoverers" that is to say, no doubt, to
Edge Island, Hope Island, and the neighbourhood.
During the winter of 1622-23 yet another trouble was
brewing for the Dutch and English whalers. Braem, head
of the Copenhagen Company, with the King of Denmark's
sanction, made an agreement with two merchants of St Jean
de Luz, admitting them as partners. In the following
season Braem sent up no Danish ships, but the Biscayers
sent up two as Danish. When these arrived at Smeeren-
burg they were forbidden to fish by Cornelis Ys 3 , the Dutch
commander, who explained to them that Mauritius Bay (as
the Dutch called the north harbour of Fairhaven) belonged
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1619-23, p. 438.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1619-23, p. 485.
3 This was the fourth year that Ys was in command.
CH. XI. 9—2
132
Dutch and Danes
[1623
fffi
IftViK..
V
V
■■
If*.
to the Dutch and Danes together, but was closed against
the ships of all other countries. He would not recognise
them as Danish, and ordered them to go somewhere else.
The English were equally inhospitable to them. " At our
first arrival," wrote Fanne from Fairhaven, "there rode two
Biskie shippes with the Flemings, but within a day or two
they waied and stood for the Southward. But, inquired of
the Flemings what port they were bound for, they answered,
for the North Cape. But Master Mason is persuaded
they are at Greeneharbour : to which purpose I wrote to
Mr Catcher (at the Foreland) that he gives order to his
shallop that goes to Bel-sound, to stand in for the harbour,
to give the Captaine (Goodlard) true information." The
shallop in question may be described as the English post-
boat, which went up and down the coast calling at the
different harbours from Fairhaven to Horn Sound and back
once or twice during the season. It was this shallop that
carried the various letters from which we have quoted.
This year Fanne started the boat from Fairhaven, June
24th. Catcher received the mail at the Foreland and sent
it on, June 29th. The boat looked in at Green Harbour,
but did not find the "two Biskie ships"; then went to Bell
Sound, where Goodlard received the mail, July 8th. He
recapitulated the information received from the north in
a letter, which he sent on the same day to Heley, doubtless
at Horn Sound. He thus concludes, " with a heavie heart
I write you the lamentable accident which happened here
the 28th of June, our shallops all out in chase and my selfe
asleepe. My brother (Peter Goodlard) having a shallop
lying by the ship's side, spide a whale going into the Ice
Bay (Recherche Bay), followed him and strucke him, and
his rope being new ranne out with kinckes, which overthrew
his shallop, where he lost his life with my Boy Bredrake
being, as we thinke, carried away with the rope (the dearest
Whale to me that ever was strucke in this harbour. There
was never anie losse, I thinke, went so neere my heart) 1 .
Catcher at the Foreland did well, but suffered from ice-
troubles at the beginning of the season. He had a man
1 Note, from this letter it appears that the English ships did not lie far
within Recherche Bay, but near the mouth of it.
1623]
Foundation of Smeerenburg
133
"shot accidentally with a Musket." The principal event of
the season, however, happened at Fairhaven. Nathaniel
Fanne, June 24th, wrote thence to Heley, as follows 1 :
" Wee arrived at our harbour with both our
ships" in safetie upon the third of this present, blessed be
God, finding the yeare past to have beene a verie hard
season, in regard of the great quantitie of Snow and Ice
but yet not very offensive to us in respect of our good
harbour. Touching our proceeding upon our Voyage, by
the 8 of this present we had killed 1 3 whales and then were
all our Shallops constrained in, by reason of foule weather,
till the 15th dicto, and upon the 15th we killed two more,
which being all boyled but the heads and then estimated
will hardly make past 80 Tunnes, which is a very small
quantitie. The weather continued bad till the 22 dicto, and
upon the 3 and 20th we killed three more, which by proba-
bilitie will make neere 40 Tunnes. And thus wee doubt
not by degrees we shall accomplish our Voyage, by the
Grace of God."
"As touching our order for the Flemmings, wee went
as yesterday aboord them, supposing that wee should have
found the Danes there, but they are not as yet arrived, but
wee found there five sailes of Flemmings, the Admirall
500 Tunnes, the Vice-admiral of the same burthen, the
other three neere 200 each ship, having also 50 or 60
persons amongst them, having 4 and 20 Shallops belonging
to their five Ships, and are building Houses and Tabernacles
to inhabit, for they make new and substantiall ; also they
told us, they expected one or two Ships more everie day."
Of the conference then held between the Dutch com-
mander and the English representatives, Sherwin and
Fanne, we have a long official report 3 . Sherwin says that
there were five Amsterdam and two Delft ships, with
Cornelis Ys in command of all. Accordingly they went
to see Ys and told him that the three years during which
the King of England had agreed to let the Dutch fish in
Spitsbergen were now passed. Ys " pleaded hereunto
ignorance, neither would understand further in that poynt
1 Purchas III. 736.
2 The Darling (T. Sherwin, Master) and the George (John Mason, Master).
3 State Papers, Domestic, Addenda, James I, Vol. 43 (1623-25), No. 13.
CH. XI.
*CLfc.
134 Dutch firmly established [1623
than hee pleased." They then said they held a commission
from the King "for the depressing of any Fleminge or
Interloper which they should meete withall uppon this
coast," but they hoped the Dutch would go quietly. Ys
replied that, being a simple fisherman, he knew nothing
about these matters. He had been sent up by his employers
and would do what he had been hired to do. Finally the
English captains said that in any case there were too many
ships there to be properly accommodated in one harbour,
and that the fishery thereby would be ruined not only for
this year but for future seasons. " His answer only was
that there was fish great store, and hee hoped to satisfie
all. But I am sure it happened otherwise with us, and
chiefly occasioned by them, having 30 shallops, for our 7,
and kil'd 157 whales, which was more by 17 than were
killed by our whole fleete in all the land." Thus the con-
ference ended. It was almost the last attempt made by the
English to assert their rights against the Dutch. The
Dutch made so successful a voyage this year that they went
home full-laden and left 60 tons of oil behind.
It only remains to add that the King of Denmark took
up the case of the Biscay ships and emphatically reasserted
his claim of sovereignty. He refused to recognise the
names Spitsbergen and Mauritius Bay, endeavouring to
substitute for them Christiansbergen and Christianshaffen.
This diplomatic engagement lasted ten years, and led to no
result 1 . Braem's brother seems to have come up in 1625,
but we are not informed whether he fished.
1 Muller, pp. 246 et seq.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE SPITSBERGEN
FISHERY.
In 1623 the Dutch felt themselves firmly planted at the
north-west corner of Spitsbergen. Their habit now and
henceforward was to send most of their ships at the begin-
ning of the season to Jan Mayen, and a few to Mauritius
Bay, whither others followed later. " The ships," wrote
Zorgdrager (in 1620), "anchored in Dutch Bay, off the
flat of Smeerenburg, in a row one beyond another, or
so near to one another that a shallop could just pass
between to tow the oil-casks from shore on board. An
anchor was cast from forward into the bay, and the ship
was made fast astern with a rope to the shore, either to
the foundations of the coppers, or to some great stone,
or to the jawbone of a whale, whereof some are still to
be seen in various places as high piles set up for the
purpose on the beach. Laying here, as in a desired and
safe haven, 3 or 4 leagues inland from the sea, preserved
and protected from all winds, they pursued their fishery
with convenience and enjoyment, rowing their shallops
round and to the ships in the bay, which in those days
was usually full of fish, as their doings and remains
sufficiently manifest in various accounts of this fishery,
otherwise they would not have so solidly settled them-
selves by their oil-cookeries and laid up their ships so
comfortably at anchor. Besides, they brought up double
crews of sixty, seventy, and even eighty men, which were
apportioned some to the shallops to kill the fish and tow
them to the oil-cookeries on the shore ; others to remain
on land and cut the blubber from the fish, chop it up
CH. XII.
136 Smeerenburg
small, boil down the oil, fill it into casks, and roll them
down to the water. Others again were on the ships to
bring the casks alongside, hoist them aloft with a pulley,
and lade them into the ship At this time there came
yearly a small fleet of ships from Amsterdam, Rotterdam,
Hoorn, and other towns, which were arranged in a row
along the flat of Smeerenburg, each by its own cookery.
Thus there were Amsterdam, Hoorn, Rotterdam, and
other oil-cookeries, with their warehouses and cooperies,
wherein a quantity of Greenland {i.e. whaling) implements
were stored, casks made, bound and taken away, many
things kept ready for future use, and stored away, when
the ships sailed off home."
Originally there were only two "tents" at Smeeren-
burg, those of Amsterdam and the Danes. Presently
other Chambers made good their position alongside of
Amsterdam, possibly in 1623, the first year in which we
hear of Delft ships at Mauritius Bay. Muller says 1 that
after 1623 the Danes came no more to Smeerenburg, and
that their place was occupied by the Hoorn, Enkhuizen,
and Flushing men in 1625 and thenceforward. A number
of "tents" and a big storehouse were erected on the land.
The Danish Government protested ; but protests, not
backed by force, had no effect in those days. It is to
be noticed, however, that Van der Brugge, writing in
1634, refers to the Danish casks lying at Smeerenburg,
which implies that the Danes had not then abandoned
that settlement. It appears from a letter of Christian IV
to the States General (28th Dec. 1631) that the Dutch
erected the fort at Smeerenburg against the Danes.
About 1625 the Danes seem to have taken possession
of Robbe Bay, which they held thenceforward 1 . In 1626
there were five big Dutch "tents" at Smeerenburg. By
1633 all the Chambers had "tents" there, and perhaps
warehouses too. Amsterdam had two great "tents"; next
on the west came Middelburg and probably Veere, then
Flushing, Enkhuizen, Delft, and Hoorn. Rotterdam also
had a " tent." We find no Zaandam establishment men-
tioned. At a later date Zaanland was the most important
1 See the authorities quoted by Muller, N. Co. p. 143.
Smeerenburg 1 37
Dutch centre for fitting out whalers, and almost every
well-to-do Zaanlander had a share in one or more whalers.
The portrait of Pieter Gijsen, one of the earliest Zaandam
whaling skippers, painted on glass and dated 1641, is still
to be seen in the Zaandijk Museum.
The bi^ "tents" doubtless resembled the second Dutch
building at Bell Sound, which was 80 feet long by 50 feet
wide. We know, from the account of the finding of the
dead winterers in 1535, that the tent of Middelburg had
a front door and a back door. The front door opened on
a great room, in which were the men's sleeping-bunks. A
wall with a door in it opened thence into a smaller room
behind, called "the buttry" in the old English translations.
The back door opened on this smaller room, and from it
went a staircase to the loft or attic. Such seems to have
been the usual plan of these houses, according to Martens.
The coopers' worksheds, with an attic for the men to sleep
in, were separate buildings, and so were the warehouses.
There were also many smaller huts. Raven and Van der
Brugge mention capstans planted along the shore for
hauling up ships. Finally, there were a church 1 and a
fort armed with cannon; the latter was built on part of
the land at one time occupied by the Danes. All these
buildings, with about a score of coppers and their furnaces,
and to each of them three big cooling-troughs, must have
pretty well filled the sea front of Smeerenburg \
"All these Cookeries and Warehouses," writes Zorg-
drager (p. 224), "along the flat of Smeerenburg looked
like half a small town or village, which therefore was not
inaptly named Blubbertown, after the industry. I have
not been able to find out exactly how many oil-cookeries
and warehouses in all there were. At present the founda-
tions and ruins of 8 or 10 oil-coppers are distinguishable,
and those of the warehouses. The rest are all fallen
together with time, so that nothing more is to be found
of them. Seeing that the ships, as already stated, brought
up double crews, it was very dull, not only on the ships
1 Muller, p. 147.
- The Dutch Company's memoir of 2 Feb. 1634, describes Smeerenburg as
then consisting of "maisons de pierre, beaucoup de loges ou Cabannes, et pour
defense un fort, muni d'Artillerie."
CH. XII.
138 English Settlements
and boats, but also ashore. There came up, therefore, as
in a camp, some sutlers who sold their wares, such as
brandy, tobacco, and the like, in their own huts or in the
warehouses. Bakers went there also to bake bread. In
the morning, when the hot rolls and white bread were
drawn from the oven, a horn was blown, so that some
enjoyment was then to be had at Smeerenburg."
In its great days, in the ten years following 1633,
Smeerenburg was a busy and populous place for a couple
of months each year ; but after it had fallen to ruin and
disappeared, its supposed magnitude was greatly exagge-
rated in sailors' yarns. They came to talk of Smeerenburg
as though it had been a town with fine wooden houses and
a summer population of from 10,000 to 20,000 persons.
Its frequenters in a full season may have numbered 1,000
to 1,200 at the outside.
The English had no summer quarters at all correspond-
ing in extent to Dutch Smeerenburg. Every year more
Dutch ships came up to the fishery, and more accommoda-
tion was required ; but the Muscovy Company's monopoly
was on the whole efficiently maintained, so far as the
western bays of Spitsbergen were concerned, against
English interlopers. It was the policy of the Muscovy
Company not to frighten away the whales by killing too
many. They foresaw that the crowd of Dutch would soon
destroy the fishery in Mauritius Bay, as in fact it did.
About 1624 therefore the English forsook Fairhaven and
Magdalena Bay, which were thereupon, as we shall see,
annexed by the Dutch. Thenceforward the English held
all the bays from King's Bay southward. Green Harbour
(by which is meant the whole of Ice Sound), Bell Sound,
and Horn Sound were their principal stations, and they
probably had huts by each of them as well as in Sir Thomas
Smith's Bay. The last-mentioned station, however, seems
to have been given up when the whales abandoned the
north-west corner of Spitsbergen.
In 1624 five well-appointed English ships coming to
the fishery met two Zeelanders, and would have driven
them about, but a Dutch man-of-war arrived in the nick
of time to protect them. The captain of this ship, Willem
Tas of Haarlem, made ready to fight, against great odds,
Uses of Train-oil 139
said the Dutch; and the English accordingly ''climbed
down," and appear to have been lectured by Tas. Tas
on his return home gained great credit for this bloodless
episode, and for the manner in which he had carried
himself 1 . When more Dutch ships arrived, making 20 in
all, the English retired. One of the Dutch ships was
doubtless the small vessel of 80 tons, under the command
of Simon Willemsz, with Jacob Jacobsz of Edam as pilot,
whose instructions were to sail along the north coast to
Cape Tabin, and try for a north-east passage that way' 2 .
How far they really went we do not know. In the bold
fashion of Arctic navigators in those days they said they
reached 83° N., but as all such claims that we have
thus far been able to investigate have proved ludicrously
exaggerated, we may well doubt the accuracy of this one.
Let it suffice to say that the Seven Islands do not appear
on Dutch charts before 1663. It is therefore most un-
likely that this expedition went even thus far. The ship
was back at Smeerenburg in time to take part in the
season's whaling 3 . The Dutchmen made a good voyage,
but they imprudently sent away one of their ships full-
laden before the rest were ready. She was captured by
a Dunkerker, and held to ransom for 10,000 guldens.
The other ships sailed home together "like grim lions,"
all safely outriding a terrible gale, which overtook and
scattered them 20 miles from land 4 .
By this time the quantity of train-oil and whalebone
imported by the different whaling fleets into Europe had
considerably lowered the price of those commodities.
Train-oil was used as an illuminant, but chiefly for the
manufacture of soap. The better kind of soft soap was
made from it, and employed in fine laundry work.
Perhaps it was the increased supply of good soap, result-
ing from the discovery of Spitsbergen, that led to the
great development in laces and linen which marks the
costume of the wealthy at this period. The small Tudor
1 Wassenaer, Hist. verh. VIII. fol. 86. Apropos of this incident, Wassenaer
gives a brief statement of the grounds of the Dutch claim to a share of the
Spitsbergen fishery (ff. 86-96).
2 Wassenaer, Hist. verh. VI 1 1, f. 86.
3 Wassenaer, Hist. verh. VII. f. 95, IX. f. 123.
4 Wassenaer, Hist. verh. vm. f. 86.
CH. XII.
140 Uses of Whalebone [1624
ruff expanded to the dimensions with which 17th century
Dutch portraits have made us familiar. Probably the laces
of the Cavaliers were washed with Spitsbergen soap. The
archives of this period are full of references to soap. In
1624 Sir J. Bourchier obtained a patent from the King for
the manufacture of a new kind of soap, for which he not
only paid money and a royalty, but gave the King as a fine
"Sir Paul Pindar's great diamond, worth ^35,ooo 1 ." The
Muscovy Company watched the soap-makers very care-
fully, and often petitioned about them, for they were
always ready to smuggle in whale-oil from Holland.
When Plymouth or Hull oppose the Company it is on the
ground that their soap-makers cannot get enough whale-oil
for their trade.
The uses of whalebone were fewer, so in 1624 the
price had fallen to two pence per pound 2 , and this in spite
of the fact that new uses had been found for it. At
Amsterdam there was an English ivory-turner, John
Osborne by name, a native of Worcester. In 161 8 he
invented a method of uniting, apparently by heat and
pressure, the thin pieces of whalebone together into a
black mass, which became so supple and soft that it could
be pressed into any shape in a metal mould or beneath
an engraved plate of metal, and would take the impression
of the finest lines. The substance was as black as jet, and
was used to ornament looking-glass frames, sideboards,
mantelpieces, knife-handles, and so forth. Fine medallions
of Prince Maurice and his wife, impressed by John Osborne
in this material, are not uncommon. Examples may be
seen in the British Museum. I have two in my own
possession. On regarding the back of them it will be
perceived that they are made of whalebone, not horn, as
usually stated in sale catalogues. For this invention, which
we are told doubled the price of whalebone, Osborne re-
ceived a pension for ten years from the States General 3 .
The Muscovy Company had not yet given up all hope
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1623-25, p. 154. The diamond in
question was brought by Sir Paul Pindar from Turkey. I cannot find out
what happened to it in later times. There are some further references to it
in the State Papers, implying that it was not given but sold to Charles I.
2 Ditto, p. 342.
3 Wassenaer, Hist. verk. vin. f. 87 ; Muller, pp. 102, 127.
1625] A Spanish Spy 141
of getting from the Dutch the ,£22,000 which King James
had adjudged they should pay. In June, 1624, and January,
1625, they petitioned to have this payment exacted and the
fishery " regulated " ! On this second occasion the Privy
Council seemed inclined to act ; they even went so far
as to direct Buckingham, the Lord Admiral, to fit out ships
sufficient in number and force to seize the Dutch ships
that intrude upon the fishing in Greenland (Spitsbergen).
Buckingham issued orders accordingly to Captain Love,
appending a warrant, from which it appears that the Dutch
ships were to be attacked, either outward or homeward
bound, rather than up at Spitsbergen 1 . There was even
talk of war between England and the States on the burning
questions of Amboyna and Spitsbergen 2 . All this bluster,
however, ended in words. There were no ships available
to attack the whalers, and none seem to have been sent
out. In fact, James at this time concluded a new alliance
with the Dutch against Spain, and had no intention of
seriously quarrelling with his ally about a few casks of
train-oil. The season of 1625 passed quietly; and, though
Joachim's suggestion that the English and Dutch claims
for compensation should be set off against one another
was not accepted, that in fact happened.
The Dutch whaling fleet at the time, though perhaps
it did not know it, was threatened with danger from
another quarter. Spain kept a spy in London named
Egidio Ouwers. In April, 1625, he wrote to Cardinal de
Ceva at Brussels, suggesting that the King of Spain should
send ships to ravage the Dutch herring fishers in the North
Sea, and afterwards turn towards Spitsbergen and take the
whalers. Ouwers said that he was going next day to
Holland and Zeeland, and would send particulars about
the ships there about to sail 3 . Whether this proposal was
seriously considered we know not ; it certainly was not
carried out.
It was the misfortune of the London Whaling Company
1 See Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1623-24, pp. 447, 454, and State
Papers, Domestic, James I, Vol. 184 (Feb. 1625), No. 50.
2 Letter of Secretary Conway to Colonel Sir E. Conway, 20 February, 1625.
See also Twisck's Chronijk, Vol. II., sub an.
3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add. 1625-49, p. 6.
CH. XII.
142 Loudon and Hull Rivals [1626
during the whole of its existence to be quarrelling with
somebody. No sooner did the lapse of time and the logic
of circumstances terminate its quarrel with the Dutch than
it came to loggerheads with English and Scotch com-
petitors. We have seen how in 1623 it prevented the
Hull whalers from setting forth. Whether it likewise kept
them at home in 1624, or drove them away from the
fishery, we do not know. Certain it is that by 1626 the
rage of the men of Hull against the whalers of London
was very hot indeed. York and Hull united to send nine
ships to Spitsbergen in that year, under the command of
R. Prestwood and R. Perkins. The London fleet consisted
of" 12 sayle of good shipps." The Hull men were first in
the field. Instead of avoiding the bays frequented by the
London ships they sailed straight for Bell Sound, for the
place then named Whale Head, where were the London
cookery, tents, and warehouse. This is the first time Whale
Head is mentioned. It is not marked on any old chart.
All we can say at present is that it was situated on the
south side of Bell Sound, near the mouth of Ice Bay,
which the Dutch called Schoonhoven and we now know as
Recherche Bay.
Hither then came the Hull men, and here they landed
and took away " 8 shallops, burned the caske, broke the
coolers, and spoyled all the other materialls fitt for the said
fishing... demolished the houses and broke down the fort
and Plattforme built the yeare before for defence of the said
harbor." It is evident that revenge, not robbery, was the
purpose of this incursion. The Hull men made no attempt
to occupy the site of the London settlement, but moved
across Bell Sound to a cove in its north shore, named
Bottle Cove, and there and on "the Rock in Bell Sound,"
which is doubtless to be identified with Axel Island, they
pitched their tents and set up their coppers. This remained
the Hull station for over 25 years 1 . Bottle Cove is the
small bay just outside Axel Island to which Willem Van
Muyden retreated in 16 13 when sent away by Captain
Joseph. On all early Dutch charts it is named Willem
Van Muyden's Haven. In modern times the name, mis-
1 Vide Horth's statement of 7 Feb. 1654, cited below
1627J The Quarrel patched tip 143
spelled, was transferred to the great sound within Axel
Island whose original and proper name is Low Sound,
though the Dutch always called it Klok Bay. In 1898
the Swedes added to the confused nomenclature of this
region by giving to Bottle Cove the name of their ship, the
Antarctic.
When Captain William Goodlard arrived at Whale Head
with four ships and a pinnace we may be sure that he
was considerably disturbed in his mind. He thereupon
"adressed himself with one shipp and a Pinace unto Bottle
Cove, where the said Shipps of Yorke and Hull were at
anchor, and in friendly manner sending aboard them and
demanding by what authoritie they had comitted that out-
rage and requiring satisfaccion of them they refused the
same and prepared to assault him... as will more particularly
appear... by a Journal thereof made by the said Capt.
Goodlad," which journal we unfortunately do not possess 1 .
In consequence of these apparently high-handed proceed-
ings, Prestwood and Perkins were summoned before the
Privy Council at Whitehall on November 15th, " who heard
the dispute between the two companies and found the
matter complicated." They accordingly directed the Lord
Admiral to institute an enquiry in the Court of Admiralty
for examination of witnesses on oath as to matters of fact,
and they appointed a Committee to consider and report
on the whole matter, the two accused being discharged
upon bond to appear when called for. The Law officers
of the Crown succeeded in accommodating the dispute by
the admission of three adventurers of York and three of
Hull into a "joint stock with the Muscovy Company 2 ."
Matters, however, did not settle down peaceably, for in
the following March we find the London Company stating
that the arrangement imposed upon them is that this year
(1627) they shall send up 3,000 tons of shipping 3 , whereof
York and Hull are to have one-fifth. They protest against
the arrangement. It seems doubtful indeed whether the
1 Petition to the Privy Council in State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 39
(Nov. 1626), No. 67.
- Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1627-28, p. 10.
3 See list of 11 ships hired for the season with the number of their seamen.
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1627-28, p. 126.
CH. XII.
144 The Privy Council defied [1627
suggested amalgamation took place. The London Com-
pany also stated that Nathaniel Edwards, Andrew Hawes,
and the towns of Yarmouth and Lynn were intending to
interlope. The fact was that Edwards had obtained a
Scotch Royal License for himself and his partners " to fish
and trade in Greenland (Spitsbergen) for 2 1 years for the
provision of Scotland and the soap works of the said
N. Edwards with oils 1 ." The English Privy Council,
after re-hearing the case, decided (April 4, 1627) that
" Edwards and the others, who were going to use English
ships under their Scotch patent, are to desist and to sell
their provisions at market rates to the Muscovy Company 2 ."
Notwithstanding the Privy Council, interlopers went up
as usual in 1627. Hawes and Batten of Yarmouth, though
expressly forbidden to set forth the ship and pinnace they
were openly preparing for the fishery, sent them up and
added insult to injury by hiring "one Sampson, a Baske,"
who was an old servant and chief harpooner of the London
Company.
In 1627 the voyage was a bad one, and the London
Company, henceforward generally called the Greenland
Company, was much discouraged. As always happened
after a bad season, there was illicit importation of whale-oil
from abroad for use by English soap-makers. In January,
1628, accordingly, we meet with a renewal of the prohibi-
tion of foreign whale-oil and whalebone 3 . Nevertheless,
two months later oil was successfully smuggled, and the
soap-makers were again found smuggling in January, 1630 4 .
In 1628 the Yarmouth interlopers, though forbidden by
the Privy Council, went again to Spitsbergen. In 1629
they were ordered to enter into a bond for ,£1,000 not to
do so again, but they disobeyed and sailed. In 1630 they
went up once more 5 , "but were impeded, arrested and
returned empty home," which action " bred a general
grievance for want of oils, and consequently of soap."
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 32, No. 52. The license was
granted at Holyrood House, 28 July, 1626.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1627-28, pp. 113, 125.
3 British Museum MS. Add. 4155, and State Papers, Domestic, Charles I,
Vol. 91 (Jan. 1628), No. 53.
4 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1 629-3 1 1 P- 1 °9-
6 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Add. 1645-49, p. 394.
1 63 1] by Yarmouth and Hull 145
This led to a protest from Lord Dupplin, Lord Chancellor
of Scotland, addressed to Secretary Dorchester. He points
out that the so-called interlopers were " patentees for the
Greenland trade of Scotland, and that this kind of treat-
ment is likely to breed trouble between the two countries 1 ."
The prohibition, however, was renewed, and in May, 1631,
the Bailiffs of Yarmouth sent up Hoarth's bond not to sail
"into any parts within the privileges" of the London Com-
pany. Hawes, Batten, Hoarth, and Wright were all really
working for the Scotch soap-maker Edwards. We shall see
that the Hull ships went up in 163 1 as usual, and so did
those of Wright and Hoarth.
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 185 (Feb. 1631), Nos. 28, 29.
CH. XII. IO
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIRST WINTERING IN SPITSBERGEN.
The event in Spitsbergen for which 1630 was chiefly
memorable happened to the Londoners. The following
account is quoted or condensed from the relation published
by one of the English whalers, Edward Pellham 1 .
"Wee set sayle from London the first day of May,
1630, and having a faire gale, we quickly left the fertile
banks of England's pleasant shoares behind us. After
which, setting our comely sayles to this supposed prosperous
gale, and ranging through the boysterous billowes of the
rugged Seas, by the helpe and gracious assistance of
Almighty God, wee safely arrived at our desired Port
(Sir Thomas Smith Bay) in Greenland (Spitsbergen), the
eleventh of June following. Whereupon, having moored
our ships and carryed our caske ashoare, wee, with all
expedition, fell to the fitting up of our Shallops, with all
thinges necessarie for our intended voyage. Wee were in
companie three Ships 2 ; all which were then appointed by
the order of our Captaine, Captaine William Goodler
(Goodlard), to stay at the Foreland, until the fifteenth of
July ; with resolution, that if we could not by that time
make a voyage according to our expectation, then to send
one ship to the Eastward, unto a fishing place (Edge
Island) some fourscore leagues from thence ; whither, at
1 Gods Power and Providence shewed in the Miraculous Preservation and
Deliverance of eight Englishmen, left by mischance in Green-land (Spitsbergen),
Anno 1630, nine moneths and twelve dayes Faithfully reported by Edward
Pellham one of the eight men aforesaid. London, 1631, 8vo. A reprint, edited
by Adam White, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1855.
2 i.e. three ships at the Foreland. There were others at Bell and Horn
Sounds. Goodlard was at Bell Sound.
A successful Season in 1630 147
the latter end of the yeare, the Whales use more frequently
to resort.'"
This reference to the Edge Island fishery is important.
It shows that it was frequented by the London ships, as
well as bv the Dutch and the men of Hull, and that it was
mainly resorted to at the end of the season. The whales,
as we have seen, moved from west to east as the season
advanced. Zorgdrager says that they reached the south
of Edge Island both by way of Hinlopen Strait and round
the South Cape. The Disco Fishery was evidently in full
swing by 1630.
" A second of the three ships was designed for Green-
harbour {i.e. for Ice Sound), a place some fifteen leagues
distant to the southward, there to trie her skill and fortune,
if it were possible there to make a voyage 1 . The third
ship, which was the same wherein wee were 2 , was appointed
to stay at the Foreland untill the twentieth of August.
But the captaine, having made a great voyage at Bell
Sownd, dispatches a Shallop towards our ship, with a
command unto us to come to him at Bell Sownd aforesaid ;
his purpose being, both to have us take in some of his
Trane-Oyle, as also, by joyning our forces together, to
make the fleete so much the stronger for the defence of the
merchants goods homeward bound, the Dunkirkers being
very strong and rife at sea in those dayes. Upon the
eighth day of August (thereupon), leaving the Foreland,
wee directed oure course to the Southward, towards Green-
harbour, there to take in twenty of our men, which had out
of our ships company beene sent into the lesser ship for the
furtherance of her voyage. But the winde being now
contrary, our ship could no way lye our course. The
fifteenth day, being calme and cleare and our ship now in
the Offing, some foure leagues from Blacke-point and about
five from the Maydens Pappes 3 (which is a place famous,
both for very good and for great store of venison), our
1 It is curious how relatively bad a whaling bay Ice Sound seems always to
have been.
2 She was the Salutation, Captain Mason. Mr Gray was one of the ship's
company. In 1663 he wrote an account of the whale-fishery for the Royal
Society. Register Book of the R. S. Vol. II. (1662-3), PP- 156, 308, reprinted in
the Geographical Journal (June, 1900), pp. 631-636, with sketches reproduced.
3 Both places are on the Foreland.
CH. XIII. 10—2
148 The First Wintering [Aug.
Master sent us eight men here named 1 , altogether in a
shallop, for the hunting and killing of some Venison for
the ship's provision. Wee thus leaving the ship, and
having taken a brace of dogs along with us, and furnisht
ourselves with a snap-hance, two lances, and a tinder-boxe,
wee directed our course towards the shoare where in foure
houres wee arrived, the weather being at that time faire
and cleare, and every way seasonable for the performance
of our present intentions 2 ."
That day they "laid fourteene tall and nimble Deere
along," and then rested for the night, intending to continue
their hunt next day and return to the ship. But next day
fog and ice forced the ship to stand off to sea, and they lost
sight of her, so they hunted southward along the shore,
killing eight more reindeer, and so on the 17th reached
Green Harbour, only, however, to find that the ship had
been there before them, taken away the twenty men, and
vanished.
Three days later was the date appointed for the home-
ward sailing of the ship from Bell Sound, sixteen leagues
further south. Accordingly they threw their venison
overboard to lighten their boat and proceeded southwards,
with but a vague knowledge of where Bell Sound was and
what its entrance looked like. Fog came upon them and
they "were faine to grabble in the darke " for their way.
They thus overshot the mark and went on southwards ten
leagues at least too far. Suspecting their blunder they
returned northwards again to within two miles (as after-
wards appeared) of the mouth of Bell Sound, but were then
persuaded to go south again by one of their number, who
thought he knew the locality. Back accordingly they went
as far as before only to find themselves in the wrong. So
they again turned round and this time found Bell Point, at
the mouth of Bell Sound, on the 21st of August.
Owing to a strong wind from the E.N.E. they could
not row against it into Bell Sound, but were compelled to
1 William Fakeley, gunner ; Edward Pellham, gunner's mate, the author
of this relation ; John Wise and Robert Goodfellow, seamen ; Thomas Ayers,
whale-cutter ; Henry Belt, cooper ; John Dawes and Richard Kellett, landmen.
2 Zorgdrager, German ed., p. n, states that some English ships, com-
manded by Captain Goodlers, had to sail round Spitsbergen this year. This is
a mistake. Spitsbergen was not circumnavigated till much later.
1630] The Bell Sound Tents 149
" cove " some two miles within Bell Point. " We forthwith,"
continues Pellham, " sought out and found an harbour for
our Shallop ; and having brought her thereunto, two of our
men were presently dispatched over land unto the Tent at
Bell Sownd, to see if the ships were still there, of which, by
reason of the times being expired and the opportunitie of
the present faire winde, we were much afraid. The Tent
being distant ten miles at the least from our Shallop, our
men at their coming thither finding the ships to be departed
out of the Roade, and not being certaine whether or not
they might be at Bottle Cove (three leagues distant on the
other side of the Sownd) riding there under the Loome of
the land ; again return unto us with this sadde newes."
I quote this whole passage because it gives the most
accurate account I have found of the position of the English
tent. Unfortunately the promontory named Bell Point is
almost circular and has no point that can be definitely
assigned as a cape. The best we can do is to assume that,
coming round the curve of the coast from the southward,
they stopped when met by the full strength of the E.N.E.
wind. That would be about 2 miles west of the point now
known as Cape Lyall. The tent therefore ought to be
sought for eight miles by land round the coast in the other
direction. This would bring us to the very bottom of Ice
Bay, the modern Recherche Bay, a very unlikely position
for a whaling station. Other references to the place,
already noticed above, suggest that the English tents
were near the mouth of Ice Bay, and that is where traces
of the buildings should be sought.
"The storme of winde hitherto continuing, about
midnight fell starke calme, whereupon we, unwilling to
lose our first opportunity, departed towards Bottle Cove,
betwixt hope and feare of finding the ships there ; whither
comming the two-and-twentieth and finding the ships
departed, we, having neither Pilot, Plat, nor Compasse for
our directors to the Eastward (i.e. to Edge Island) found
ourselves (God he knoweth) to have little hope of any
delivery out of that apparent danger. Our feares increased
upon us, even whilst we consulted whether it were safest
for us either to goe or stay. If goe, then thought wee
upon the dangers in sayling, by reason of the much yce in
CH. XIII.
if: The First I fin tiring ug.
the w:. also of the difficultie in finding the place when
wee should come thereabouts. If we resolved still to
remaine at Bell Sownd. then wee thought that no other
thing- could be looked for bu: i ~iserable and a pining
death, seeing there appeared no possibility of inhabiting
there, or to endure so long, and so bitter a winter."
s r ht of the experienced men who had refused
_ .. : .:-. :t~i::r.i' irftrs :: :':.- '..-:: J ~-:i:.y:: r.:-:
in Spitsbergen. They thought of the condemned criminals
who had preferred hanging at home to freezing here.
'The remembrance of these two former stories as also of
a third (more terrible than the former, for that it was likely
to be our own case more miserably now affrighted us
and that as the lamentable and unmanly ends of nine
good and able men. left in the same place heretofore by
the sehe same Master that now left us behinde : who all
dyed miserably upon the place, being cruelly disfigured
after their deaths by the savage beares and hungry foxes
winch are not only the civilest, but also the onely inhabitants
:~i.: :;~:"; n'-sse Countrey : the lamentable ends and
miscarriage of which men. had beene enough indeed to
-
hare daunted the spirits of the most noble resolution....
Thus, lik- men already metamorphosed into the yce of the
Country, and already past both our sense and reason, stood
wee with th^ e] -;- fpittie beholding one another.
iter a period of despair, "shaking off all childish and
effeminate fears it pleased God to give us hearts like men 1 ."
They thereupon decided to go back to Green Harbour
with their two mastiffs and kill reindeer for their win:
'. ' - :r. Jr. A_r-'.: - "~ ~-'--\ -'--. - : -.''- a v. ay " :::. ■ -, :\:r
wind and reached Green Harbour in twelve hours. They
made a tent of a sail and slept and the next day the]
went to a place called Coles Parke% about two leagv
oft where they killed seven reindeer and four bears.
Tr turned to their tent for the night and next day
rowed again towards Coles Parke and killed tv more
'-Aain Astderson relates that when these men realized that they must
bte, other times to scold and fight : bat at last with mutual persuasions to pro-
- erafly misspelt Coal Bay, in the south side of
1630] The Party abandoned 151
reindeer. They loaded their boat with venison and tilled
another boat they found there "with the Graves of the
Whales that had beene there boyled this present — jd
so divided into two parties they set out to return to the hut
:r. DtV. Scur.i. Xur-ht crtvtr.rt: r su=r
next day. being Sunday, they would not m ove. But on
Mondav morning " the day was no sooner peept but up we
^;:. renin;; curs ::: :ur z-zzzz~z-z± .:
:: :'< :i.r~ :"•••": i;u. 5 ;:" ;:: -z. z-z z: :-::. z ::: .- - : ' -
where they were forced to stay, landing and making then-
boats fast to an anchor, in zz.t rz^-Z :"t s :_:_.-" 7-:
blew a gale right into the cove and ?'~^Ll:cs
casting alongrs: the shoare. sunke presently in the sea,
welting by this means our whole provis; earf
withall beating: some of it out of die Boates, which wee
:~c_r.u sv..~~ir_; _. zz.z z: z- :z- szzzzt For. coming
out of our tent the meane time, judge you whu: z agfaf
:..:s • .? ur.:; us :: srr :v "iscnunc-r ::.: :es: zzzz :: cur
s : _ r. ::.-. 'zzz<z ::' cur .- :: -•_ :r --"■
:: "re ics: :r u: ieus: s: itu :z :r- — - z.zz
- ~z:'z -■-•■- tzzzziktz. szz'zz z-iizts zzzz run such uri enrurrs
.z z'z.-: -::u
Being at the Hull settlement they were not without
:~;;'r~7-:> There appear to h: een rapes about as
-•■■eii ■-- . :a cs:ur '.z -v — r eri zzzz ::.:
:r :: at this place as ::u iid at irfeen Harbour.
This ccncirms : - s:u:e~en: : r :.: :hr Huli u\c
^ : - cs: fr "A Hslser
:z -.--:.. .:z "- re: - • fuscer :; cocr. cur shu : - c-c-
'■'■'.z'z. .. J :■: ;: Jursuinu: r.2 r fcrcr c: nun. . . cu
them out of toe water upon the shoarr 7 s :::.: uli
S.U- r CC-r Srri- U, ICrCr U C UUs \,
sucr. ;: cur rrrvisicrs us r:_ s- uiucrc.z c ;. frcrr cur
:_ huli; -
On September 3rd they were back in Bell Sound.
" Our first businesse was to take our provision out of our
S aDops into the Tent : our next, to take a particular
-"- :c: u.ur unci c: : '.-.-- ;ren: :t~: — ; c. us c -. :; :h-
place of our habitation for the ensuing YV
which we call the Tent, was a kinde of hous
built of Timber and Boardes substantially anc
152 TJie First Wintering , [Sept.
with Flemish Tyles, by the men of which nation it had, in
the time of their trading thither, been builded 1 . Fourscore
foot long it is, and in breadth fiftie. The use of it was for
the Coopers, employed for the service of the Company, to
worke, lodge, and live in, all the while they make caske
for the putting up of the Trane Oyle."
They had intended to go back to Green Harbour for
more reindeer, but the bad weather and cold prevented
them. " Things being at this passe with us, we bethought
ourselves of building another smaller Tent with all ex-
pedition ; the place must of necessity be within the greater
Tent. With our best wits, therefore, taking a view of the
place, we resolved upon the South side. Taking downe
another lesser Tent therefore (built for the Land-men hard
by the other, wherein in time of yeare they lay whilest
they made their Oyle) from thence we fetcht our materials.
That Tent furnisht us with one hundred and fifty deale-
boards, besides Posts or Stancheons and Rafters. From
three Chimneys of the Furnaces wherein they used to
boyle their Oyles, wee brought a thousand Bricks : there
also found wee three Hogsheads of very fine Lyme, of
which stuffe wee also fetcht another Hogshead from Bottle
Cove, on the other side of the Sownd, some three leagues
distant. Mingling this Lyme with the Sand of the Sea
shore, we made very excellent good morter for the laying
of our Bricks : falling to worke whereupon the weather was
so extreame cold, as that we were faine to make two fires
to keepe our morter from freezing. William Fakely and
my selfe, undertaking the Masonrie, began to raise a wall
of one bricke thicknesse, against the inner planks of the
side of the Tent. Whilst we were laying of these Bricks,
the rest of our Companie were otherwise employed every
one of them : some in taking them downe, others in making
of them cleane, and in bringing them in baskets into the
Tent. Some in making morter, and hewing of boards to
build the other side withall, and two others all the while
in flaying of our Venison. And thus, having built the two
outermost sides of the Tent with Bricks and Morter, and
our Bricks now almost spent, wee were enforc'd to build
1 See above, p. 108.
1630] Preparations made 153
the other two sides with Boards ; and that in this manner.
First, we nayl'd our Deale boards on one side of the Post
or Stancheon, to the thicknesse of one foot : and on the
other side in like manner : and so filling up the hollow
place betweene with sand, it became so light and warme,
as not the least breath of ayre could possibly annoy us.
Our Chimneys vent was into the greater Tent, being the
breadth of one deale board and foure foot long. The
length of this our Tent was twenty foot, and the breadth
sixteene ; the heighth tenne ; our seeling being Deale
boards five or sixe times double, the middle of one joyning
so close to the shut of the other, that no winde could
possibly get betweene 1 . As for our doore, besides our
making it so close as possibly it could shut ; we lined it
moreover with a bed that we found lying there, which
came over both the opening and the shutting of it. As for
windowes, we made none at all, so that our light wee
brought in through the greater Tent, by removing two or
three tyles in the eaves, which light came to us through
the vent of our Chimney. Our next worke was, to set up
foure Cabbins, billeting our selves two and two in a
Cabbine. Our beds were the Deeres skinnes dryed, which
we found to be extraordinary warme, and a very comfortable
kinde of lodging to us in our distresse. Our next care then
was for firing to dresse our meate withall, and for keeping
away the cold. Examining, therefore, all the Shallops that
had beene left a-shoare there by the Ships, we found seven
of them very crazie, and not serviceable for the next yeare.
Those wee made bold withall, brake them vp and carried
them into our house, stowing them over the beames in
manner of a floore intending also to stow the rest of our
firing over them, so to make the outer Tent the warmer,
and to keepe withall the snow from dryving through the
tyles into the Tent, which snow would otherwise have
covered every thing, and have hindered us in comming at
what wee wanted. When the weather was now grown
colde, and the dayes short (or rather no dayes at all) wee
made bold to stave some emptie Caske that were there left
the yeare before, to the quantitie of a hundred tunne at
1 Anderson says that their room was half under ground and half above.
CH. XIII.
154 The First Wintering [Sept.
least. We also made use of some planks and of two old
Coolers (wherein they cool'd their Oyle) and of whatsoever
might well be spared, without damnifying of the voyage the
next yeare. Thus, having gotten together all the firing
that wee could possibly make, except we would make
spoyle of the Shallops and Coolers that were there, which
might easily have overthrowne the next yeares voyage, to
the great hindrance of the Worshipfull Companie, whose
servants wee being, were every way carefull of their profite.
Comparing, therefore, the small quantitie of our wood,
together with the coldnesse of the weather, and the length
of time that there wee were likely to abide, we cast about
to husband our stocke as thriftily as wee could, devising to
trie a new conclusion. Our tryall was this : When wee
rak't up our fire at night, with a good quantitie of ashes
and of embers, wee put into the midd'st of it a piece of
Elmen wood — where, after it had laine sixteene houres,
we at our opening of it found great store of fire upon it,
whereupon wee made a common practice of it ever after.
It never went out in eight months or thereabouts.
" Having thus provided both our houses and firing ; upon
the twelfth of September, a small quantity of drift yce came
driving to and fro in the Sownd. Early in the morning
therefore wee arose, and looking every where abroad, we at
last espyed two Sea-horses lying a-sleepe upon a piece of
yce : presently thereupon, taking up an old Harping Iron
that there lay in the Tent and fastening a Grapnell Roape
unto it, out launch't wee our Boate to row towards them.
Comming something neere them, wee perceived them to be
fast a-sleepe : which my selfe, then steering the Boate, first
perceiving, spake to the rowers to hold still their Oares, for
feare of awaking them with the crashing of the yce ; and I,
skulling the Boate easily along, came so neere at length
unto them, that the Shallops even touch'd one of them.
At which instant, William Fakely being ready with his
Harping Iron, heav'd it so strongly into the old one, that
hee quite disturbed her of her rest : after which, shee
receiving five or sixe thrusts with our lances, fell into a
sounder sleepe of death. Thus having despach't the old
one, the younger being loath to leave her damme, continued
swimming so long about our Boate, that with our lances we
1630] The Metis Occupations 155
kill'd her also. Haling them both after this into the Boate,
we rowed a-shoare, flayed our Sea-horses, cut them in
pieces to roast and eate them. The nineteenth of the
same moneth we saw other Sea-horses, sleeping also in like
manner upon severall pieces of yce ; but the weather being
cold, they desired not to sleepe so much as before, and
therefore could wee kill but one of them, of which one
being right glad, we returned again into our Tent.
" The nights at this time, and the cold weather increased
so fast upon us, that wee were out of all hopes of getting
any more foode before the next Spring ; our onely hopes
were to kill a Beare now and then, that might by chance
wander that way. The next day, therefore, taking an
exacter survey of all our victuals, and finding our pro-
portion too small by halfe, for our time and companie, we
agreed among our selves to come to an Allowance, that is,
to stint our selves to one reasonable meale a day, and to
keepe Wednesdayes and Fridayes Fasting dayes, excepting
from the Frittars or Graves of the Whale (a very loathsome
meate) of which we allowed our selves sufficient to suffice
our present hunger, and at this dyet we continued some
three moneths or thereabouts.
" Having by this time finished what ever we possibly
could invent for our preservations in that desolate desert ;
our clothes and shooes also were so worne and torne (all to
pieces almost) that wee must of necessity invent some new
device for their reparations. Of Roape-yarne therefore, we
made us thread, and of Whale-bones needles to sew our
clothes withall. The nights were wax't very long, and by
the tenth of October the cold so violent, that the Sea was
frozen over, which had beene enough to have daunted the
most assured resolutions. At which time, our businesse
being over, and nothing now to exercise our mindes upon,
our heads began then to be troubled with a thousand sorts
ol imaginations. Then had wee leisure (more than enough)
to complaine our selves of our present and most miserable
conditions. Then had wee time to bewaile our wives and
children at home, and to imagine what newes our unfortu-
nate miscarriages must needes be unto them. Then thought
wee of our parents also, and what a cutting Corasive it
would be to them, to heare of the untimely deaths of their
CH. XIII.
156 The First Wintering [Oct.
children. Otherwhiles againe, wee revive ourselves with
some comfort, that our friends might take, in hoping that it
might please God to preserve us (even in this poore estate)
untill the next yeare. Sometimes did we varie our griefes,
complaining one while of the cruelty of our Master, that
would offer to leave us to these distresses ; and then
presently againe fell wee, not onely to excuse him, but to
lament both him and his companie, fearing they had beene
overtaken by the yce and miserably that way perished.
" Thus tormented in mind with our doubts, our feares,
and our griefes, and in our bodies, with hunger, cold and
wants, that hideous monster of desperation began now to
present his ugliest shape unto us ; hee now pursued us, hee
now laboured to seize upon us. Thus, finding our selves in
a Labyrinth, as it were, of a perpetuall miserie, wee thought
it not best to give too much way unto our griefes ; fearing
they also would most of all have wrought upon our weake-
nesse. Our prayers we now redoubled unto the Almighty,
for strength and patience in these our miseries and the
Lord graciously listned unto us, and granted these our
petitions. By his assistance therefore, wee shooke off these
thoughts and cheer'd up our selves againe, to use the best
meanes for our preservations.
"Now, therefore, began we to thinke upon our Venison
and the preserving of that, and how to order our firing in
this cold weather. For feare, therefore, our firing should faile
us at the end of the yeare, wee thought best to roast every
day halfe a Deere and to stow it in hogsheads. Which
wee, putting now in practice, wee forthwith filled three
Hogsheads and an halfe, leaving so much raw as would
serve to roast every Sabbath day a quarter, and so for
Christmas day and the like.
" This conclusion being made amongst us, then fell wee
againe to bethinke us of our miseries, both passed and to
come : and how (though if it pleased God to give us life)
yet should we live as banished men, not onely from our
friends but from all other companie. Then thought we of
the pinching cold and of the pining hunger ; these were our
thoughts, this our discourse to passe away the time withall.
But as if all this miserie had beene too little, we presently
found another increase of it : For, examining our provisions
1630] The Long Night 157
once more, we found that all our Frittars of the Whale were
almost spoyled with the wet that they had taken, after
which, by lying so close together, they were now growne
mouldie ; And our Beare and Venison we perceived againe,
not to amount to such a quantity as to allow us five meales
a weeke — whereupon, we were faine to shorten our stomachs
of one meale more — so, that for the space of three moneths
after that, we for foure dayes in the weeke fed upon the
unsavory and mouldie Frittars, and the other three, we
feasted it with Beare and Venison. But, as if it were not
enough for us to want meate, we now began to want light
also : all our meales proved suppers now, for little light
could we see ; even the glorious Sunne (as if unwilling to
behold our miseries) masking his lovely face from us, under
the sable vaile of cole-blacke night. Thus, from the four-
teenth of October till the third of February, we never saw
the Sunne ; nor did hee, all that time, ever so much as
peepe above the Horizon. But the Moone we saw at all
times, day and night (when the clouds obscured her not)
shining as bright as shee doth in England. The skie, 'tis
true, is very much troubled with thicke and blacke weather
all the Winter time, so that then we could not see the
Moone, nor could discerne what point of the Compasse
shee bore upon us. A kinde of daylight wee had indeed,
which glimmer'd some eight houres a day unto us, in
October time I meane ; for from thence, unto the first of
December, even that light was shortened tenn or twelve
minutes a day constantly, so that, from the 1st of
December... till the twentieth, there appeared no light at
all, but all was one continued night. All that wee could
perceive was, that in a cleare season now and then, there
appeared a little glare of white, like some show of day
towards the South, but no light at all. And this continued
till the first of January, by which time wee might perceive
the day a little to increase. All this darksome time, no
certainety could wee have when it should be day or when
night : onely my selfe out of mine owne little judgement,
kept the observation of it thus. First, bearing in minde
the number of the Epact, I made my addition by a day
supposed (though not absolutely to be known, by reason of
the darkness) by which I judged of the age of the Moone ;
CH. XIII.
158 The First Wintering [Jan.
and this gave me my rule of the passing of the time ; so
that, at the comming of the Ships into the Port, I told them
the very day of the moneth, as directly as they themselves
could tell mee.
" At the beginning of this darksome, irkesome time, wee
sought some meanes of preserving light amongst us ; finding
therefore a piece of Sheete-lead over a seame of one of the
Coolers ; that we ript off and made three Lamps of it,
which maintaining with Oyle that wee found in the Coopers'
Tent, and Roape-yarne serving us in steed of Candle-
weekes, wee kept them continually burning. And this was
a great comfort to us in our extremity. Thus did we our
best to preserve our selves ; but all this could not secure us,
for wee, in our owne thoughts, accounted our selves but
dead men ; and that our Tent was then our darksome
dungeon, and that we did but waite our day of tryall by
our judge, to know whether wee should live or dye. Our
extremities being so many, made us sometimes in impatient
speeches to breake forth against the causers of our miseries ;
but then againe, our consciences telling us of our owne evill
deservings, we tooke it either for a punishment upon us for
our former wicked lives ; or else for an example of God's
mercie in our wonderfull deliverance. Humbling our selves
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, wee cast downe
our selves before him in prayer, two or three times a day,
which course we constantly held all the time of our misery.
"The new yeare now begun: as the dayes began to
lengthen, so the cold began to strengthen ; which cold
came at last to that extremitie, as that it would raise
blisters in our flesh, as if wee had beene burnt with fire :
and if wee touch't iron at any time, it would sticke to our
fingers like Bird-lime. Sometimes, if we went but out a
doores to fetch in a little water, the cold would nip us in
such sort, that it made us as sore as if wee had beene
beaten in some cruell manner. All the first part of the
Winter we found water under the yce, that lay upon the
Bache on the Sea-shore. Which water issued out of an
high Bay or Cliffe of yce, and ranne into the hollow of the
Bache, there remaining with a thicke yce over it, which
yce, wee at one certaine place daily digging through with
pick-axes, tooke so much water as served for our drinking.
1 631] Successful Hunting 159
" This continued with us untill the tenth of Januarie, and
then were wee faine to make shift with snow-water, which
we melted by putting hot Irons into it. And this was our
drinke untill the twentieth of May following.
" By the last of Januarie were the dayes growne to some
seven or eight houres long, and then we again tooke another
view of our victuals, which we now found to grow so short
that it could no wayes last us above sixe weekes longer.
And this bred a further feare of famine amongst us. But
our recourse was in this, as in other our extremities, unto
Almighty God, who had helps, wee knew, though we saw
no hopes. And thus spent wee our time untill the third of
Februarie. This proved a marvellous cold day ; yet a faire
and cleare one ; about the middle where of all cloudes now
quite dispersed, and nights sable curtaine drawne ; Aurora,
with her golden face, smiled once againe upon us, at her
rising out of her bed ; for now the glorious Sunne, with his
glittering beames, began to guild the highest tops of the
loftie mountaines. The brightnesse of the Sunne, and the
whitenesse of the snow, both together was such, as that it
was able to have revived even a dying spirit. But to make
a new addition to our new joy, we might perceive two
Beares (a shee one with her Cubbe) now comming towards
our Tent ; whereupon wee straight arming our selves with
our lances, issued out of the Tent to await her comming.
Shee soone cast her greedy eyes upon us, and with full
hopes of devouring us shee made the more haste unto us ;
but with our hearty lances we gave her such a welcome as
that shee fell downe, and biting the very snow for anger.
Her Cubbe seeing this, by flight escaped us. The weather
now was so cold, that longer wee were not able to stay
abroad ; retiring therefore into our Tent, wee first warmed
our selves, and then went out againe to draw the dead
Beare in unto us. Wee flaied her, cut her into pieces of a
stone weight or thereabouts, which served us for our
dinners. And upon this Beare we fed some twenty dayes,
for shee was very good flesh and better than our Venison.
This onely mischance wee had with her, that upon the
eating of her Liver our very skinnes peeled off; for mine
owne part, I being sicke before, by eating of that Liver,
though I lost my skinne, yet recover'd I my health upon it.
CH. XIII.
160 The First Wintering [March
Shee being spent, either wee must seeke some other meate,
or else fall aboard with our roast Venison in the Caske ;
which we were very loath to doe for feare of famishing, if
so be that it should be thus spent before the Fleete came
out of England. Amidst these our feares, it pleased God
to send divers Beares unto our Tent, some fortie at least as
we accounted. Of which number we kill'd seven : That is
to say, the second of March one ; the fourth, another ; and
the tenth a wonderfull great Beare, sixe foote high at least.
All which we flayed and roasted upon woodden spits
(having no better kitchen-furniture than that, and a frying-
pan we found in the Tent). They were as good savory
meate as any beefe could be. Having thus gotten good
store of such foode, wee kepte not our selves now to such
straight allowance as before ; but eate frequently two or
three meales a-day, which began to increase strength and
abilitie of body in us.
" By this, the cheerfull dayes so fast increased, that the
several sorts of Fowles, which had all the Winter-time
avoyded those quarters, began now againe to resort thither,
unto their Summer-abiding. The sixteenth of March, one
of our two Mastive Dogges went out of the Tent from us
in the morning ; but from that day to this he never more
returned to us, nor could wee ever heare what was become
of him. The Fowles that I before spake of, constantly use
every Spring time to resort unto that Coast, being used to
breede there most abundantly. Their foode is a certaine
kinde of small fishes. Yearely upon the abundant comming
of these Fowles, the Foxes, which had all this Winter kept
their Burrows under the Rockes, began now to come
abroad and seeke for their livings. For them wee set
up three Trappes like Rat-trappes, and bayted them with
the skinnes of these Fowles, which wee had found upon the
snow, they falling there in their flight from the hill where-
upon they bred towards the Sea. For this Fowle, being
about the bignesse of a Ducke, hath her legs placed so
close unto her rumpe, as that when they alight once upon
the land, they are very hardly (if ever) able to get up
againe, by reason of the misplacing of their legs and the
weight of their bodies ; but being in the water, they raise
themselves with their pinions well enough. After wee had
1 63 1] The Spring 161
made these Trappes, and set them apart one from another
in the snow, we caught fiftie Foxes in them ; all which wee
roasted, and found very good meate of them. Then tooke
wee a Beare skinne, and laying the flesh side upward wee
made Springes of Whales bone, wherewith wee caught about
sixty of those Fowles, about the bignesse of a pigeon.
" Thus continued wee untill the first of May, and the
weather then growing warme, wee were now pretty able
to goe abroad to seeke for more provision. Every day
therefore abroad wee went, but nothing could we encounter
withall untill the 24 of May, when espying a Bucke, wee
thought to have kill'd him with our Dogge, but he was
grown so fat and lazie that he could not pull downe the
Deere. Seeking further out therefore, wee found abundance
of Willocks egges (which is a Fowle about the bignesse of a
Ducke), of which egges, though there were great store, yet
wee being but two of us togethor, brought but thirty of them
to the Tent that day, thinking the next day to fetch a thou-
sand more of them ; but the day proved so cold, with so much
Easterly winde, that wee could not stirre out of our Tent.
''Staying at home therefore on the 25 of May, we for
that day omitted our ordinary custome. Our order of late
(since the faire weather) was, every day, or every second
day, to goe up to the top of a mountaine, to spie if wee
could discerne the water in the Sea ; which, untill the day
before, we had not seene. At which time, a storme of
winde comming out of the Sea, brake the maine yce within
the Sownd ; after which, the winde comming Easterly,
carried all the yce into the Sea and cleared the Sownd a
great way, although not neare the shoare at first, seeing the
cleare water came not neere our Tent by three miles at least 1 .
"This 25 of May therefore, wee all day staying in the
Tent, there came two Ships of Hull into the Sownd ; who,
knowing that there had been men left there the yeare
before, the Master 2 (full of desire to know whether we
1 This statement indicates that the tents were within the bay, but not
necessarily at the bottom of it.
- The master's name was Launcelot Anderson. He wrote an account of
Spitsbergen, which is in the British Museum (MS. Sloane 3986, ff. 78, 79,
printed in the Geographical Journal, June, 1900, pp. 629-31). It briefly de-
scribes the adventures of Pellham and his companions. When the eight men
were found he says they " were pale, leaned, and ill-coloured."
C. CH. XIII. 11
1 62 The First Wintering [May
were alive or dead) man'd out a Shallop from the Ship ;
with order to row as far up the Sownd as they could, and
then to hale up their Shallop, and travell overland upon the
snow unto the Tent. These men, at their comming ashore,
found the Shallop which we had haled from our Tent into
the water, with a purpose to goe seeke some Sea-horses the
next faire weather ; the Shallop being then already fitted
with all necessaries for that enterprize. This sight brought
them into a quandary ; and though this encounter made
them hope, yet their admiration made them doubt that it
was not possible for us still to remaine alive. Taking
therefore our lances out of the Boate towards the Tent
they come ; wee never so much as perceiving of them, for
wee were all gathered together, now about to goe to
prayers in the inner Tent, onely Thomas Ayers was not
come in to us out of the greater Tent. The Hull men
now comming neere our Tent, haled it with the usuall word
of the Sea, crying ' Hey': he answered againe with ' Ho,'
which sudden answer almost amazed them all, causing them
to stand still halfe afraid at the matter. But we within
hearing of them, joyfully came out of the Tent, all blacke
as we were with the smoake, and with our clothes tattered
with wearing. This uncouth sight made them further
amazed at us ; but, perceiving us to be the very men
left there all the yeare, with joyfull hearts embracing us,
and wee them againe, they came with us into our Tent.
Comming thus in to us wee showed them the courtesie
of the house, and gave them such victuals as we had ;
which was Venison roasted foure moneths before, and a
Cuppe of cold water, which, for noveltie sake, they kindly
accepted of us.
" Then fell we to aske them what newes ? and of the
state of the Land at home ? and when the London Fleete
would come ? to all which they returned us the best answers
they could. Agreeing then to leave the Tent, with them
wee went to their Shallop, and so aboard the Ship, where
we were welcomed after the heartiest and kindest English
manner ; and there we stayed our selves untill the comming
of the London Fleete, which we much longed for, hoping
by them to heare from our friends in England. Wee were
told that they would be there the next day ; but it was full
1 63 1 J Deliverance 1 63
three dayes before they came, which seemed to us as tedious
a three dayes as any we had yet endured, so much we now
desired to heare from our friends, our wives, and children.
'"' The 28 of May the London Fleete came into the Port
to our great comfort. A-board the Admirall we went, unto
the right noble Captaine William Goodler, who is worthy
to be honoured by all Sea-men for his courtesie and bounty.
This is the Gentleman that is every yeare chiefe Com-
mander of this Fleete ; and right worthy he is so to be,
being a very wise man, and an expert Mariner as most be
in England, none dispraised. Unto this Gentleman right
welcome we were, and joyfully by him received ; hee giving
order that we should have any thing that was in the Ship
that might doe us good and increase our strength ; of his
owne charges giving us apparell also, to the value of twenty
pounds worth. Thus, after fourteene dayes of refreshment,
wee grew perfectly well all of us ; whereupon the noble
Captaine sent William Fakely and John Wyse (Mason's
own Apprentice), and Thomas Ayres, the Whale-Cutter,
with Robert Goodfellow, unto Master Mason's Ship, ac-
cording as themselves desired. But, thinking there to be
as kindly welcomed as the lost Prodigall, these poore men,
after their enduring of so much misery, which through his
meanes partly they had undergone, — no sooner came they
aboard his ship, but he most unkindly call'd them Run-
awayes with other harsh and unchristian terms, farre
enough from the civility of an honest man. Noble
Captaine Goodler understanding all these passages was
right sorie for them, resolving to send for them againe,
but that the weather proved so bad and uncertaine. I for
mine owne part, remained with the Captaine still at Bottle
Cove 1 , according to mine owne desire ; as for the rest of us
that staied with him, hee perferred the Land-men to row in
the Shallops for the killing of the Whales ; freeing them
thereby from their toylesome labour a-shoare, bettering
their Meanes besides. And all these favours did this
worthy Gentleman for us.
Thus were wee well contented now to stay there till the
twentieth of August, hoping then to returne into our native
This is the first time Londoners are mentioned as occupying Bottle Cove
alongside of the Hull men.
CH. XIII. II— 2
164 The First Wintering
Country ; which day of departure being come, and we
imbarked with joyfull hearts, we set sayle through the
foaming Ocean, and though cross'd sometimes with contrary
windes homeward bound, yet our proper ships at last came
safely to an Anchor in the River of Thames, to our great
joy and comfort and the Merchants benefite. And thus by
the blessing of God came wee all eight of us well home,
safe and sound ; where the Worshipfull Companie our
Masters, the Muscovie Merchants, have since dealt wonder-
fully well by us. For all which most mercifull Preservation,
and most wonderfully powerfull Deliverance, all honour,
praise, and glory be unto the great God, the sole Author
of it."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CULMINATION OF THE BAY FISHERY.
It was characteristic of the energy and determination of
the men of Hull that their ships were the first to arrive at
Bell Sound in 1631 and relieve the London whalers. Not-
withstanding that they had been driven away empty by the
London ships in 1630 they were not afraid to meet them
next season and hand over the surviving winterers to them.
Probably the protest of the Scotch Lord Chancellor had
produced an effect. On May 25, 1631, we find the Privy
Council again devoting its attention to the interminable
dispute 1 . They had before them a series of charges
brouoTit bv Nathaniel Wright against the London Com-
pany, and the Company's reply thereto. Wright says that
the Company "have gotten an ill name and that the Soape
makers did behinde their backs curse them for exacting^
upon them in the price of their oyles and that in a yeare
wherein God had blessed their voyage with an extraordinarie
fishinge." The Company reply that when the ships came
in they lowered the price of oil from ^"26 to £20 per ton,
prices at Rouen and Amsterdam being £2% and ^22
respectively. Wright further charges them with exaction
in the price of whalebone, " who made themselves sellers
and buyers when they sett up a candle to sell them by."
The reply is that at the auction the Company were faced
by an organized knock-out and so they bought their stuff
in. The last charge is that the Company do not send up
as many ships to Spitsbergen as they should, the Dutch
sending yearly 4,000 tons, the London Company only half
as much. The Company answer that when Wright was
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 192 (May, 1631), No. 36.
CH. XIV.
1 66 The Danish IVhalers [1631
"husband of the Company, having a stock of ,£20,000
underwritten... the managing of the whole voyage being
referred to him" he only sent 2,200 tons from London and
Hull together. " Yet is not ashamed to tax the Company
for not doine that which while hee was one of the Ad-
venturers hee thought not fitt to be done." This year the
Company say that they have sent 14 ships and a pinnace
(nearly 3000 tons). After hearing both parties the Council
ordered Wright and Horth to enter into a bond not to send
ships to Spitsbergen. To Iceland and elsewhere they
might send.
Nevertheless Wright and Horth sent their ships to
Spitsbergen as usual, and " consorted with strangers as
partners and sharers, thereby giving away, as much as in
them lies, an interest in that country, which at its discovery
was named King James Newland 1 ." In consequence
Wright and Hoarth were criminally proceeded against
(Nov. 4th). Hoarth was to be kept in custody and pay
his bond, whilst Wright was committed to the Fleet prison.
We have been led away by the course of our narrative
and have omitted mention of the doings of the Danes. In
1630 Johann Braem of Copenhagen obtained a new charter
from Christian IV, giving him the right to send six ships to
fish at Fairhaven, two of them being Basques. This time
Braem took into partnership Jean Vrolicq, a sea-captain
described by the Dutch as " estant encore jeune d'ans et
de basse condition," who had already applied to the King
of France for a Spitsbergen "octroi," or monopoly. In
1 63 1, accordingly, Braem sent one ship to Fairhaven, and
Vrolicq followed with another. They found their place
taken at Smeerenburg, and no one eager for their com-
pany, so they moved away and began to fish in Robbe
Bay, named Port St Pierre by Vrolicq (modern Norsk,
Kobbe Bay), in the west side of the island, which was
known thenceforward as Danes Island. The Dutch com-
mander ordered Vrolicq not to fish, but Braem cleared his
ship for action, and the protest was not enforced. Vrolicq
returned to Havre de Grace in high feather, declaring that
the Dutch had recognized his French commission, which
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 202 (Oct. 1631), No. 7.
1632] Vrolicq and Brae in 167
was not true. He accordingly dissolved partnership with
Braem, who took in two new Biscay partners, whilst Vrolicq
prepared to go again next year under the sole patronage
of the King of France and Cardinal Richelieu. In 1632
Braem appeared at Robbe Bay with one Danish ship and
accompanied by two ships of St Jean de Luz as partners.
Vrolicq also arrived with two ships.
The Dutch Commander J. J. Duynkercker promptly
compelled Braem's Biscayers, the Pigeon Blanc and the Ste
Marie, to depart. They sailed away and waited till the
Dutch had returned home, when, going to Jan Mayen
Island at the end of August, "they landed and took,
pillaged, and stole a very great quantity of train-oil, many
thousands of pieces of whalebone, and other utensils ; also
broke up the huts and stone houses, ruined many utensils,
destroyed a number of shallops, which they set adrift in the
sea, and in fine ravaged and damaged the Dutch Company,
whose merchandise and equipment had been left there as
in their own warehouse, where up till then they had ex-
perienced no such ill-treatment. The Biscayers filled their
ships with the plunder, carried it off to France, and sold it
at Rouen and elsewhere 1 ."
Vrolicq was likewise ordered away by the Dutch, and,
no longer having Braem's support, was obliged to depart.
He went to Iceland and fished there. His negotiations
with the Dutch went on all the winter, the French Govern-
ment strongly supporting his right to take part in the
Spitsbergen whaling industry. The Dutch Council eventu-
ally recommended the Noordsche Company to let him fish
outside the limits of their fishery, which were now defined
to be bounded on the south by the south cape of Magdalena
Bay, and on the north by " de noorder punt ofte noorder
gatt " — the north point or the north gat 2 . We shall hear
more of Vrolicq next year.
The Dutch did not interfere with the Danes, who planted
themselves securely in Robbe Bay and built themselves
huts. To complete what remains to be said about the
Danes we must again depart from the chronological order
1 Muller, N. Co. pp. 406-413.
2 Le Moine de PEspine and Isaac Le Long, De Koophandel van Amsterdam^
10th edn. Vol. II. pp. 283-309. Amsterdam, 1 801-2, 8vo.
CH. XIV.
1 68 Danish Claims [1632
of our history. In or just after 1633 the rapid increase
in the number of Dutch ships coming to Smeerenburg
caused a new grievance. The Danes complained that
they were incommoded in their fishing by the throng of
the Dutch. Christian IV took the matter up in 1637, and
wrote to the States General that too many ships went to
Fairhaven. The Noordsche Company replied that it was
true, but that the fault was not theirs, but that of un-
authorized whalers who came up in spite of their monopoly.
In 1638, accordingly, three Danish men-of-war were sent to
the north to reassert the king's claims. In open sea they
met two of the company's ships, and imposed trifling fines
upon them. Following them presently to the Foreland,
where they anchored, they arrested them and kept them
idle for a month, only at last releasing them on the
demand of other of the Dutch Company's ships. There-
upon the old negotiations revived, discussions as to the
ownership of Spitsbergen, as to its being part of Greenland,
and so forth. The matter dragged on till 1642, when the
company's monopoly came to an end, and the Dutch threw
the fishery open to all Dutch citizens. The king proposed
that the number of ships should be limited ; the Dutch
replied that this was impossible now that the monopoly
was ending. Finally the king agreed to the freedom of
fishing. Nothing more was heard of Denmark's sovereign
rights after this, for the very good reason that the whales
presently abandoned the coasts and bays of Spitsbergen,
which thenceforward became valueless as a whaling base.
We return to the events of 1632. Smeerenburg and
the equipment stored there had, by this time, grown to
represent a large capital for that period, and the Noordsche
Company obviously could not afford to allow such interests
as theirs in Spitsbergen to be trifled with. Moreover, they
had three large warehouses, "Groenlandsche Pakhuizen," at
Amsterdam, on the west side of the Keizersgracht near its
north end, between the Brouwersgracht and the Prinsen-
straat 1 . These warehouses contained large accommodation
1 The land on which they were built was bought in 1620, the probable date
of the building (Muller, p. 121, note). After the expiration of the Noordsche
Company's monopoly, and the abandonment of Smeerenburg and Jan Mayen
as settlements, these warehouses were the only immovable property of the
Amsterdam adventurers.
CROENL.AND5CHE-PAKHUJZEN-
In the Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, from a print after a drawing by Wencke r
published by ' Het Zondagsblad van het Nieuus van den Dag.' no. 1905.
1632] The Dutch Establishment 169
for the necessary equipment of the fishery and for merchan-
dise. There were great stone-cisterns in cellars for storing
the train-oil, which was "better preserved there and less
subject to leakage than in vats 1 ."
The Groenlandsche Pakhuizen at Amsterdam still
stand in good preservation with a noble tree before them
and the canal (Keizers Gracht) beyond. There are three
of them, one like another externally. They stand in a row
some six doors south of the Church of St Ignatius. Their
brown bricks have grown browner with age, but the well-
built walls are firm. Now they are common warehouses,
but they retain their old name, and I am told that down in
the basement there are still evidences of their old use —
vats and what-not — but these I could not see when I was
there and could not wait to see later.
At Jan Mayen Island they had other "tents," ware-
houses, and equipment similar to those at Smeerenburg, so
that their venture was a very large one. We can easily
imagine the horror with which they heard of the destruction
and robbery perpetrated upon their property at Jan Mayen
in 1632 by the angry Basques, who had been refused per-
mission to fish off Smeerenburg. The matter, we may
be sure, was seriously debated in the general assemblage of
the "kamers" of the Noordsche Company. What should
they do ? The amount of their loss was as yet unknown,
but it was certainly heavy. The thieves were selling their
spoil at Rouen and elsewhere. What they had done with
impunity at Jan Mayen, they might do again at Smeeren-
burg, and there was practically no redress to be had.
They would protest, of course, and the States-General
would back their claim for compensation. Richelieu would
be appealed to, and plenty of ink would be spilt, but money
would not be forthcoming. The English had never paid
for their extortions, and they themselves had never paid
and did not intend to pay any of the claims made against
them by foreigners. What was past was past ; the question
now was how to protect themselves in future. Perhaps
some wise reformer, a quarter of a century before his day,
1 Le Moine de l'Espine and Isaac Le Long, De Koophandel van Amsterdam,
10th edit., Vol. n. pp. 283-309. Amsterdam, 1 801-2, 8vo.
CH. XIV.
170 Proposed Colonization [1633
expressed a doubt whether these buildings, storehouses,
and cookeries were not altogether a mistake. They should
bring their blubber home in barrels, and boil it down in
the Netherlands ; they would thus be saved all the great
capital expenses in the unprotected north, which swallowed
up much of their profits. If such considerations were put
forward by someone, the majority were of another way of
thinking. They were committed to the policy of a private
Dutch settlement and a great Smeerenburg. Money had
been spent upon it, and if more were needed, more must
be forthcoming. They had gone too far to turn back
without ruin. Smeerenburg had a great future, and would
well repay them. Who could say what it might grow to
in a century or two? It might become the capital of a
Dutch arctic colony, with a monopoly of the whole whale-
fishery. The real solution of their troubles was to be found
only in colonization.
Colonization, as we have seen, was no new proposal.
The English had endeavoured to effect it, but failed.
Since then, however, the eight English sailors had lived
through an arctic winter and Pellham's account of their
exploit had been published ( 163 1) and doubtless widely
read in Holland, where so many people took an interest in
arctic adventure. What the English could do, it would
fairly be argued, Dutch men could do. Let seven men be
left next winter at Jan Mayen and another seven at
Smeerenburg. The men would be forthcoming, if they
were well paid. They could man the forts, and drive away
any pirates who might attempt to land. The plan was
approved, men were found ready to venture their lives for
its execution, and all the needful preparations were made.
The prospective winterers went up w T ith the whaling fleet
in the spring of 1633.
The season of 1633 seems to have been a good one.
The Dutch had a little trouble with Vrolicq again, who once
more appeared at Robbe Bay. Commander Cornelis Pz.
Ys sent for him to come and see him at Smeerenburo-, and
there ordered him to take himself outside the Dutch limits.
Vrolicq suggested that English Bay (or South Gat) in
Fairhaven would suit him, but Ys said that that was used
by the Dutch. Vrolicq then suggested Magdalena Bay,
1633] Vrolicq again 171
which was likewise refused 1 . Accordingly Vrolicq decided
to take possession of a little bay, wholly omitted on all
modern charts (except the French local chart of Magdalena
Bay), that lies between Magdalena and Hamburger Bays.
He named it Port Louis, or Le Refuge Francois ; others
generally called it Baskes Bay. It proved to be an ex-
cellent fishing station. Having established himself there,
Vrolicq made raids into Magdalena Bay, where the Dutch
captured five of his shallops at one time or another before
they persuaded him to desist. In the winter of 1633-4
negotiations took place between the Dutch and French
governments, wherein memoirs were put forward on behalf
of the disputing parties. The Dutch memoir was accom-
panied by Middelhoven's map, which is preserved in the
Royal Archives of the Hague, where I traced it 2 . A con-
temporary map based upon Vrolicq's information is now
the property of Mr Cash, of Edinburgh. In 1634 Vrolicq
was again at Port Louis. Dutch opposition, however,
ultimately ruined him. He obtained, indeed, letters of
reprisal against the Dutch but could make no use of them
because of the league at that time existing between Dutch
and French 3 .
The Noordsche Company's charter did not expire till
the end of 1634. Taking time by the forelock they applied
for a renewal of it in the autumn of 1633. Many Dutch-
men did not think the monopoly should be renewed but
that the fishery should now be thrown open to all Dutch
ships. When the Frieslanders saw that this was not to be,
and found themselves still excluded from the company,
1 The South Gat and Magdalena Bay had both been English stations, but
were abandoned by the English, as we have seen, about 1624 or 1625.
- Middelhoven's' map is accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the follow-
ing Dutch "seafaring pilots," all of whom were doubtless Spitsbergen skippers:
Pieter Cornelisz. aged 69, Henrick Cornelisz. Pailjart, aged 53, Christian Corne-
lisz., aged 37, Jacob Tennisz., aged 36, and Lucas Bouwensz., aged 33 or
thereabouts. These men deposed that they " had seen and measured this
chart in all its points and parts, lengths and heights " and that " they found it to
correspond in all respects with the aforesaid land of Spitsbergen, its havens or
bays." And in particular " that from Vogelhouck northwards the land does not
extend further than 14 or 15 German miles." The map is signed " Michiel
Harmansz. Middelhoven fecit '," and Middelhoven states upon it that he employed
" David Davitsz., teacher of navigation at Rotterdam, to make the same with
great accuracy according to the best authorities."
3 See document printed by Dr E. T. Hamy, in Bull, de ge'og. hist, et descript.
Paris, 1901 ; p. 35, note.
CH. XIV.
172 Dutch Charter of 1633 [1633
they obtained a charter from the States of Friesland, and
ships of Harlingen and Stavoren went to the fishery under
this charter. We shall see that the Frieslanders were
allowed two years later to combine with the Noordsche
Company 1 . It may be mentioned that the leader of the
Stavoren adventurers was Wybe Jansz, after whom Wybe
Jans Water was named, an indication that the Frieslanders
were energetic in the eastward fishery. Till they entered
the Noordsche Company the eastward region and the open
sea were perhaps the only fishing areas open to them.
In the Noordsche Company's application for a new
charter they recited how " for the maintenance and service
of the whaling industry and fishery they had built at great
cost forts, houses, and warehouses for dwelling and pro-
tection, so as to put the fact of their possession beyond
reach of question ; and how the more certainly to maintain
the same against all foreign nations and others, they had
especially and extraordinarily at great expense fitted out
some ships with men and all things needful and had left
them to dwell and overwinter in Spitsbergen and Mauritius
(Jan Mayen) Island, in order to keep a continuous occu-
pation of those places." The States General granted a
new charter for eight years, dated October 25, 1633.
The eight years were to be counted from the beginning
of 1635, so that the monopoly lasted till the end of the
season of 1642. It then expired and was not renewed.
We are not here concerned with the fortunes or mis-
fortunes of the Jan Mayen winterers. They all died,
leaving behind them a pathetic journal, which was published
in Dutch and republished in English more than once".
The winterers at Smeerenburg were more energetically
and wisely led by their able captain, Jacob Segersz. Vander
Brugge, who wrote a most interesting journal, the only
book ever written at Smeerenburg in its great days. Vander
1 See Zorgdrager, German edn. pp. 217-224.
2 "Twee Journalen, Het Eerste gehouden by de Seven Matroosen, Op het
Eylandt Mauritius, in Groenlandt, In den Jare 1633 en 1634 in haer Over-
winteren, doch sijn al t'samen gestorven : En het tweede gehouden by de Seven
Matroosen, die op Spitsbergen Zijn Overwintert, en aldaer ghestorven, in den
Jare 1634" [i.e. in 1634-5 ; the second lot of Smeerenburg winterers]. Amster-
dam (Saeghman) s.d. (1635). 4to.
English translations of this book are printed in Churchill's Collection of
Voyages, Vol. II., and in Pinkerton's Collection, Vol. I.
1633] The Dutch Wintering 173
Brugge's journal was likewise printed in Dutch, and passed
through several editions 1 .
On August 30, 1633, the whaling fleet, after taking an
honourable farewell of the winterers, sailed out of the North
Bay and passed the West Bay the same night. Vander
Brugge and his six comrades, left alone, began by making
good resolutions to collect all the fresh food they could,
to do their duty, and to sing a psalm and pray morning and
evening before their meals. The very next day they made
a boat expedition to Zealand Bay, and climbed high up
a hill on the mainland near Alabaster Hook" (a name not
mentioned elsewhere) to survey the sea, which was covered
with ice. They slept in a tent made of oars and a sail,
then sailed past Monier Bay, lost themselves in fog and
storm, and returned tired out to Smeerenburg on Sep-
tember 2. The same day they made a plan that, in the
event of Biscay or other ships appearing in the bay, they
would light fires in all the "tents" to deceive them, and
make smoke rise from all the chimneys, fly their flags, fire
some shots from the fort, and make a loud noise, being
also careful to observe to what nation the ships belonged.
They also arranged to keep watch day and night. Except
in utterly bad weather, they kept busy. One day they rowed
into West Bay ; another they prepared to try and kill a
whale, their idea being to fasten the harpoon-line of 70
or 80 fathoms to a couple of casks and throw them over-
board when they had struck a fish. The arrangement when
1 "Journal of Dagh-Register, gehouden by Seven Matroosen, In haer Over-
winteren op Spitsbergen in Maurits-bay, Gelegen in Groenlandt, t'zedert het
vertreck van de Visschery-Schepen de Geoctroyeerde Noordtsche Compagnie,
in Nederlandt, zijnde den 30. Augusty, 1633 tot de wederkomst der voorsz.
Schepen, den 27. May, Anno 1634. Beschreven door den Bevelhebber Jacob
Segersz. van der Brugge." Amsterdam (Saeghman) s.d. (1634). 4to. Vide
Tiele's bibliographical Memoire, p. 277. An English translation of this journal
is included in the present writer's Spitsbergen volume, published by the Hakluyt
Society.
This book and that mentioned in the previous note seem to have been con-
fused together, even by their publisher, for he published a second edition of
Vander Brugge's journal with a wrong title beginning " Twee Journalen, yeder
gehouden," etc., an evident blunder arising out of confusion with the other
book. Vander Brugge's book did not contain (even in this later edition)
"twee Journalen," but only one. Copies of both these editions are in the
British Museum Library, where I have compared them (10460 bbb 10 and 13).
2 Probably it was from this place that the rock was fetched which, as
Zorgdrager relates, was employed in the Delft porcelain works (German edit.,
p. 90).
CH. XIV
174 The DutcJi Wintering [1633
tried was a failure, for the casks dragged the harpoon out.
They also fished up old whalebone from shallow places near
the shore. On different occasions they made expeditions
to search for scurvy grass, and found it in considerable
quantities at three places, which they named the Salaet
Hills, all on Amsterdam Island. They spread the scurvy
grass out in one of the "tents." They also made a
journey to Red Beach to kill reindeer, and hung the
meat up on pegs to freeze in the same "tent." They
killed birds also, and preserved them in the same manner.
One day they found a dead whale near the Archipelago,
and made tremendous efforts to secure it, but a storm
drove it out to sea, after they had towed it for twelve
hours. They kept a careful look-out for whales, it being
doubtless their duty to observe whether winter whaling
would pay. Once a whale got aground just off the settle-
ment, but he worked himself off again. At the beginning
of October they observed the departure of the birds. Great
cold came on about the middle of the month. On the 15th
they climbed " the hill " and caught a last glimpse of the
sun. About a fortnight later the first bears were seen, and
the last whales soon after. Now a series of bear-fights
came on, which kept them busy on and off all the winter.
They must have collected a valuable quantity of skins.
Once or twice they had narrow escapes. They were struck
with wonder sometimes by the northern lights, but say less
about them than might be expected. They trapped and
shot many foxes, and found their flesh good, especially
when boiled with plums and raisins. On March 7 they
launched their boat once more and killed a walrus. On
May 1 they celebrated the Spitsbergen carnival. The
ducks began to return about that time. They became
busier now every day, killing bears, walruses, seals, and
birds 1 . At last, on May 27, a shallop came in, sent by the
commander from his ship off Robbe Bay. He came into
the West Bay himself next day, and five more ships soon
followed. The seven winterers were all found in excellent
health. They had kept busy and fed themselves well with
fresh meat during the nine months and five days of their
lonely exile. Lacking the knowledge that has deprived an
1 In all they killed and did not lose 29 bears during the winter.
1634] English Rivalries 175
arctic winter of its terrors, they were surrounded every day
by the terrors of the unknown ; but, being brave and active
men with a good leader, they never lost heart, and never
gave way to poisonous idleness. Hence their safety.
After the renewal of the Noordsche Company's privilege
in 1633 there was a great increase in the number of Dutch
ships sailing to the fishery. The London Company foresaw
that this would be the case. In April, 1634, they informed
the Privy Council that they were likely to be opposed by
more foreign ships than ever. They themselves were
intending " in lyke manner to goe this yeare extraordinarily
strong," they therefore begged for effective protection
against English interlopers. The Star Chamber might
prohibit ; they might put Wright and Hoarth in prison,
but Edwards managed to get English ships to sail for him
in spite of everything. There were Yarmouth ships at the
fishery in 1633 and again in 1634. In the latter year Hoarth's
ships, the Mayflower and the. James, commanded by William
Cave and Thomas Wilkinson, took possession of the cove
in the south side of Horn Sound, called Bowles Bay by the
English, Goeshaven by the Dutch, which was the London
Company's regular station. Captain Goodlad came up as
usual in command of the London fleet and distributed his
ships to their several harbours, himself settling at Port
Nick in Ice Sound. About the 7th of July he heard of the
'Yarmouth ships at Horn Sound, how they had "pit up
their tents and kept their shallops with the Companie's to
look out for whales and put them by from many whales
which they might have killed, tending to over throwe their
voyadge if he did not take some order therein." Goodlad
accordingly went to Bowles Bay with his two "shipps of
warr," but could not get into the bay because they drew
too much water. So he landed and went along the shore
"with some of his cheife men to the Yarmouth shipps,
demaunding of William Cave and Wilkinson and one
Seaman, the Principall commanders of the said Yarmouth
shipps, by what authority " they were there. They showed
Edwards' Scotch patent "with all using ill language towards
Captain Goodlad, saying they expected as much favor from
him as from a Turk or Jew." Goodlad accordingly ordered
them to depart and they refused, "and would maynteyne
CH. XIV.
176 Goodlad' s action [1634
the harbor with their blood and did sleight the order of the
board as a piece of paper.
"Whereupon Captain Goodlad would have haled up
their coppers but was resisted by Cave, Seaman, and
others, and himselfe like to have bin spoyled with the
boyling oyle. Soe finding this ill usage at their hands,
within fower houres after, brought diverse of his men to
recover the harbour from them. But first sent five of his
cheife men to know their resolucon, whoe could receave
no other answer from them but blood ; and Cave called
Captain Goodlad theife, whereas he came with the King's
Commission as a true man, and with order from the board
and the Commission of the Companie. And Cave having
eighty men in armes attending him hee commanded them
to fight or loose their wages. Hee alsoe placed aboard his
shipps within Pistoll shott of Captain Goodlad and his
Company fyve peeces of great Ordnance, charged with
burr shott and small bulletts, and twenty men to discharge
them (upon a watchword or token, and retreate of Cave
and his men behinde their coppers) at Captain Goodlad
and his companie, which if it had taken effect would in all
likelyhood have spoyled above one hundred men, but it
pleased God they were prevented by the misty weather.
" Afterwards one of their men falling downe with a
shott from our men, the busines was composed by Cap-
taine Goodlad to avoid further shedding the blood of our
countrey men (although he was provoked beyond measure)
and sending his Chirurgion a board of Cave's shipp to
dresse the man that was hurt, they confessed to the Chirur-
gion Cave's cruell intent and shewed him the burr shot.
They alsoe confessed that 3 men with musketts were sett
to kill Captaine Goodlad, and one of them levelled fyve
tymes at him, but the peece would not take fire, and
Captaine Goodlad was forced to close with him and take
away his muskett. Cave's brother alsoe confessed that he
did discharge his muskett 4 tymes before Captaine Goodlad
came to them, and every tyme hitt the marke, but presenting
his peece fyve tymes at him it would not take fire, but after
the busines ended, turning his backe, with the first touch
of the match it went off and hitt the marke, which he told
to the Chirurgion
4i **-V
a si %
1634]
Collidg killed
177
" By these proceedings it may appear how bold Hoarth
of Yarmouth is against the authority which our Companie
have under the great seale of England 1 ," etc.
Horth and the other Yarmouth men were ordered to
appear before the Privy Council.
The Yarmouth men said that Goodlad "shot off his
owne Pistoll first and then commanded his men to doe the
like, whereupon they shott off their Musketts (haveing no
manner of opposition) and kild many of those men, which
went forth under the Scottish Commission. Amongst the
men that was then slain Richard Collidg was then and
there most Barbourously and Cruelly Murthered 2 ." Ed-
wards and the men employed by him petitioned the Privy
Council of Scotland for protection. They took up the case
and by a letter to the King " recommended the trial of
those grievances and that recompense be made to the
petitioner and that he and his servants for the time to come
may peaceably continue their trade 3 ."
The question was referred to a Committee composed of
notable men of both nations, who advised a compromise,
and that the rival companies should amalgamate.
The man who came off worst in this business, after
Richard Colledg who was killed, was his brother Thomas.
Naturally anxious to avenge Richard's death he procured a
warrant from the Lord High Marshal, the Earl of Arundel,
for the arrest of Goodlad. In company with a "pursivant"
he proceeded to arrest him. Thereupon Archbishop Laud
sent for the prisoner Goodlad, for the "pursivant," and for
Thomas Colledg. He discharged Goodlad but committed
the "pursivant" and Colledg to the Fleet Prison. This
apparently high-handed action, the reasons for which are
not given, was afterwards raked up against Laud, when
he was on his trial. It appears that in 1643 Colledg
was still in prison in spite of application made to Parlia-
ment, on his behalf in 1640, when Mr Pym was ordered
to investigate the case and heard several witnesses to the
facts 4 .
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 275 (Oct. 1634), No. 30.
2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 499 (1643), No. 47.
3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1634-35, p. 461.
4 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 499 (1643), No. 47.
CH. XIV.
12
/
178 The Soap Monopoly [1634
An unexpected action of the Government in 1634 gave
the Muscovy Company's Directors a horrible fright. When
they were least expecting it, the proprietors of a soap-
patent procured a proclamation from the King forbidding
the use in soap-making of any oil except olive and rape.
The whaling company immediately protested. They pointed
out that such a regulation meant utter ruin to them. " This
voyage hath yearlie brought home 1,100 tunne of oyle, as
by the medium of the last eight yeares, of which there
never was 50 tunne in anie one yeare sold for other use
than soape making 1 ... The rest of their retourne is whale-
bones and seahorse teeth." They add some further in-
teresting particulars. The average tonnage annually
employed by the company was 2,500 s ; the number of
mariners 1,000, "whereof 500 are bred of landsmen" and
so turned into sailors. The yearly charge of the voyage
was ,£12,000. It had cost the company ,£40,000 to
uphold their trade against the Dutch. If the company did
not send their ships up this year the Dutch might take
away or destroy their coppers, vessels, and provisions left
there 3 . The company appear to have got satisfaction, and
their ships went up in 1635 as usual.
In the winter of 1634-35, while these debates were
going on at home, the frost-bound harbour of Smeerenburg
was the scene of a grim tragedy. The fact that, in the
preceding winter, the Jan Mayen winterers had died, whilst
those in Spitsbergen like the English in 1630 had survived,
not unnaturally led men to conclude that the latter country
had a healthier winter climate. The men's safety was
referred to that, instead of to their activity and the wisdom
of their leaders.
Plenty of volunteers were forthcoming to spend the
next winter (1634-35) at Smeerenburg, but apparently none
for Jan Mayen. On September 11, 1634, the selected
seven winterers were left behind in the "tent" of Middel-
burg, and the whaling fleet sailed for home. The men
appear to have had little initiative. They did not go to
1 But Martens (in 1671) states that "the train-oyl of the whale is used by
several, viz. by the frize-makers, curriers, cloth-workers, and soap-boilers, but the
greatest use that is made of it is to burn it in lamps instead of other oyl."
2 They say 25,000, but this is an obvious slip of the pen.
3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 279, Nos. 71, 72, 74.
1 63s] ^4 Dutch Tragedy 179
hunt for reindeer, and they could find no scurvy grass. By
November 24 scurvy appeared amongst them, and all they
could do was to comfort "one another with hopes that God
would provide for them something or other for their Re-
freshment." They fell back upon physic. On December 24
they wounded a bear, but were too weak to kill it. From
that day all were doomed men. The first died on January 14,
and two more in the next few days. The survivors saw
the sun again on February 24. On the 26th they wrote
their last record : " Four of us that are still alive lie flat
upon the Ground in our Hutts {i.e. bunks). We believe
we could still feed, were there but one among us that
could stir out of his Hutt to get us some Fewel, but no
Body is able to stir for Pain. We spend our time in
constant Prayers to implore God's Mercy to deliver us
out of this misery, being ready whenever He pleases to
call on us."
All were found dead when the ships arrived next
summer. A baker was the first man ashore. He broke
open the back door of the tent which the men had
inhabited and "running upstairs found there, upon the
floor, part of a dead dog... and another at the stair foot
in the Buttry. From hence passing through another door
towards the fore-door, in order to open it, he stumbled in
the darkness over the dead bodies of the men, whom they
saw (after the door was opened) altogether in the same
place, 3 in coffins," two in cabins or bunks, and two lying
on sails on the floor. They were buried, perhaps on Dead-
man Island, the usual burying-place. Twenty years later
their bodies were seen, still in perfect preservation 1 .
In 1878 a Dutch frigate, sent on a voyage of Arctic
research, landed at Smeerenburg and set up a monument to
these winterers. It does not stand on Deadman Island,
which was so named, as Martens gruesomely says, "because
the dead are buried there in this fashion : the dead are laid
in a coffin and well covered over with great rocks. After-
wards the white bears find them and devour them." There
were burial-places on Amsterdam Island too. Buchan's
party in 1 8 1 8 counted 1,000 graves on the site. It is at
1 M. Blaeu, Atlas Historique. Vide Churchill, Vol. II. p. 427 ; Scoresby,
\ ol. 11. p. 51. Anderson's Commerce, sub ann. 1634.
CH. XIV. I2 — 2
180 A Dutch Commemoration
Smeerenburg itself that Beynen and his companions set
up the Dutch memorial. No apology is needed for quoting
at length the following account of its dedication.
" As soon as the vessel was safely at anchor, men and
officers landed, to visit Smeerenburg. How few traces
were to be found of the busy days of old ! How lifeless and
forsaken was the place that, for so many years, had been
frequented by hundreds of cheerful workers... The former
localities of the seven ' Chambers ' of the Netherlands —
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Middelburg, Flushing, Enkhuizen,
Delft, and Hoorn — were easily distinguished by the remains
of circular walls on which the oil-boiler had rested. One
must imagine a plain, white with snow, which has melted
at the water's edge, where the ground is strewn with broken
red tiles and rubbish, enormous bones of whales, oars,
half-rotten rope, and here and there a grave : and one has
a true but not an enchanting idea of what remains of a
place once so much frequented by our ships. The burial-
place, at the northern end of the beach, had, if possible,
a still more melancholy look, the crosses fallen, skulls and
bones scattered about. With difficulty some of the in-
scriptions on the crosses were made out, and were as
follows :
Here lies buried Jan Fred Meyrot van
Pruysen, who rests in the Lord, the 19th
July, of the ship Evenwicht,
Commander Cornells Dek, 1778.
Here lies buried Uurjaen Klaesz. Kromen
van Son.
Here lies buried Hendrijk. Selden van
Gestack, died in the ship Frouw Anne,
Commander Derk Driewes, 1742."
The coffins were nailed down and the crosses replaced.
On the following day a cairn was built on the highest spot
among the graves, against which was placed one of the
stones brought from the fatherland. The following inscrip-
tion is engraved upon it.
at Smeerenburg 181
t
In Memoriam
Spitsbergen, or Newland,
Discovered
in 79 30' N. Latitude
by the Hollanders.
Here wintered, 1633-34,
Jacob Seegersz. and Six Others.
Here wintered and died, 1634-35,
Andries Jansz. of Middelburg
and
Six Others.
Late in the evening, before midnight, the whole crew paid
a last visit to the spot, and the commander took the oppor-
tunity of addressing the following few words to them :
" ' Men ! by the placing of this stone we have fulfilled
the wish of Holland, which was to set it up as a token of
the great honour in which she holds the memory of the
brave deeds and adventurous spirit of our dauntless sea-
fathers. For centuries their ashes have reposed here. As
we look round we see that but little remains of many of
their graves. But the honour in which we hold the memory
of those men will never fade away, as long as the flag of
Holland proudly flies in all seas. For in days gone by
they did much for the honour and prosperity of our dear
country.'
"It was a strange sight to behold these fourteen sturdy
seamen standing at the burial-place of Dutch sailors long
passed away on this distant shore, and fulfilling a work of
love !"
CH. XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
SMEERENBURG'S CULMINATION.
The season of 1635 was uneventful. The London
Company now had to apply for exemption of their sailors
from empressment. There were 260 of them this year and
they were duly let off. The landsmen, coopers, and other
servants are not included in these 260. At Smeerenburg
the throng of ships increased. All available space on the
flat ground was occupied. There was room for no more
ships to range themselves along the shore, and for no more
huts to be built in convenient situations. Hence when, in
1636, the whalers of Harlingen and Stavoren were allowed
to join the Noordsche Company 1 , it was stipulated that they
should find some other place for their cookery.
They accordingly chose a site on Danes Island, over
against Deadman Island, and there they erected their
cookery. It was called the cookery of Harlingen". It
occupied almost exactly the position where Mr Arnold Pike
built the hut in which he wintered, and where the unfortu-
nate Andree erected his balloon. This marked the cul-
mination of Smeerenburg's prosperity. Zorgdrager states
that the ships that came up for the fishery did not suffice to
carry away the train-oil made in a season, but that extra
ships had to be sent to carry it home. He says that this
was an annual custom which lasted on even after " the times
of the Company," that is to say, after 1642.
1 From this agreement we learn that the shares in the Company were
divided between Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland holders in the proportion of
6:2:1. It was signed by representatives of the Chambers in the order of
seniority and importance thus: — Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn.Enkhuizen,
Middelburg, Flushing (Zeeland), and Harlingen (Friesland).
2 Martens refers to it by this name, which his English translator gratuitously
altered into Cookery of Haarlem. The mistake is not rectified in the Hakluyt
Society's edition.
Events in 1636 183
We hear casually of Danes at Spitsbergen in this year.
The only fact recorded about them is that they neglected
the fishery and devoted their energies to searching for
Cfold and silver 1 .
Fourteen French ships went to the fishery in 1636.
How many of them made Spitsbergen their station is not
recorded. It is probable that the Biscay whalers already
devoted chief attention to the open sea fishery, which was
always free to everyone, and in which they were the earliest
experts. As we have seen they used to boil down their
oil on board ship, a method adopted from them and carried
out down to our own day by the whalers of Nantucket.
By this time, no doubt, there were Dutch ships engaged in
the open sea fishery, though we hear little about them. It
is recorded that, as early as 1626, two Zaandam whalers,
en route for Nassau Straits, were the first Dutch who ever
killed a whale in the open sea 2 . Other Dutch whalers,
excluded from Smeerenburg, were doubtless not slow to
follow this example.
In the autumn of 1636 the French Biscayers received a
blow, from which they did not soon recover, when the
Spaniards sacked St Jean de Luz, Cibourre, and Soccoa,
and captured 14 great ships, recently come in from the
north "charge's de fanons et de lard." A few French ships
apparently went up next year, but in 1639 no French ships
appeared in Spitsbergen, nor are they heard of there again
during the continuance of the bay fishery. It does not,
however, follow that none went up. Perhaps they found it
more profitable to prey upon returning Dutch and English
whalers, for we frequently find references henceforward to
Biscay and Dunkerk privateers, who were a standing
nuisance in the north to a much later date 3 .
We have little information about the year 1637. We
only know that Horth sent ships to Spitsbergen at a charge
of more than ^600 a month. We find him in dispute with
his employer Edwards, and contracting with the " Sopers of
W estminster," a new manufacturing company, to supply
them with oil, which the Privy Council forbids him to do.
1 Scoresby, Arctic Regions, II. p. 167.
2 Wassenaer, Hist. verh. XI. fol. 134.
3 Scoresby, Arctic Regions, II. 165.
CH. xv.
184 The Sopers of Westminster
He claims that the Sopers cannot get oil except from
Holland. The reply is that the London Company has
more oil in stock than they can sell. The price had sunk
to £\b per ton, so that the whaling fleets must have been
very successful at this time 1 .
The " Sopers of Westminster " were a corporation,
"being most part of them Popish Recusants," to whom a
patent and monopoly was granted by the King in 1631 for
the making of a white soap by what the London soap-
makers described as a "pretended new" process. From
the moment of their coming into existence thev were at
loggerheads with the London soap-makers. In 1632 they
obtained a royal proclamation to the effect that "no oyle
bee used in soape but olive and rape oyle." This put the
London men out of business and was a severe blow to the
Whaling Company. Protests and law-suits followed, as
already stated. In 1634 we find the Westminster soapers
using train-oil in their manufacture. After 1637 the new
company appears to have been bought out by the London
men, who had been practically kept out of business from
1632 to 1637, "The Greenland (Spitsbergen) trade and all
fishing trades having been most extreamely interrupted and
damnified by this Project 2 ."
The only information we possess about the year 1638
has been already mentioned above, that in this year the
King of Denmark sent three men-of-war to Spitsbergen to
assert his sovereign rights. It is probable that in one of
these ships the Spanish naturalist Leonin was a passenger.
He was sent up about this time by the Grand Marshal of
Denmark to bring back a description of the country, which
was published in 1647 by Isaac de la Peyrere in his well-
known Relation du Groenlande*. Leonin's observations are
not of much interest now. The Danish ships brought home
some birdskins, which were afterwards stuffed, and some
polar bears alive. The Grand Marshal kept these bears at
Copenhagen, and used to have them thrown into the water
that he might see them dive and swim. Poor Leonin
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domes tie, 1637, pp. 2Q, 30, 288.
2 A short and true Relation concerning the Soap-busines. London, 1641, 4to.
3 Translated in A. White's Spitsbergen and Greenland (Hakluyt Society),
London, 1855, 8vo, pp. 233-236.
Events in 1639 l &5
"returned from this Voyage so cramp'd with cold that he
lived not long after."
A significant fact recorded in 1639 is that two Amster-
dam ships belonging to the Noordsche Company fished in
the open sea between Spitsbergen and the North Cape 1 .
Of the English whalers we hear nothing, but we find the
merchants of York and Hull petitioning to be allowed to
open a soap factory at York, such as there once was,
which used great quantities of whale-oil. They now suffer
from the want of vent for oils brought to Hull from Spits-
bergen. After negotiations the London soap-monopolists
agreed to open a factory at York and to buy the Hull oil,
paying ten shillings less for it per ton than the current price
in London' 2 . By what impediments industry was hampered
in those days! Such conditions as are thus revealed amply
account for the growing reaction against monopolies.
The only account we possess of a season's work at
Smeerenburg in its great days comes from this year, 1639.
It was written by Dirck Albertsz. Raven of Hoorn*. On
May 7 Raven sailed from the Texel in his ship Spits-
bergheu, in company with six other vessels, whereof only
one (Captain Gale Hamkes) stayed with him. On May 21
he sighted Spitsbergen in lat. 78°, and saw the ice packed
against the land. Next day he spoke two Danish ships,
who told him that the ice was also packed up against the
land further north. The same day he sighted a Delft ship,
and a violent storm arose, in which his ship collided with
ice and became a mere drifting wreck. All but twenty men
of a crew of eighty-six were washed overboard. On the
24th, Gale Hamkes, in the Oranje Boom, of Harlingen,
came up with him and took off the survivors, who for forty-
four hours had been hanging on to the wreck in bitter cold
without food or drink. On the 27th they came to off the
1 Muller, p. 1 16.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1639, pp. 45, 363.
"Journael ofte Beschrijvinghe vande reyse ghedaen by den Commandeur
Dirck Albertsz. Raven, nae Spitsbergen, in den Jare 1639 ten dienste vande
E. Heeren Bewindt-hebbers vande Groenlandtsche Compagnie tot Hoorn.
Door hem selver beschreven.'' Hoorn (Jan Jansz. Deutel), 1646, 4to. Second
edition, Utrecht (E. W. Snellaert), 1647, 4to. To Raven's diary is appended
;i " Kort Yerhael uyt het Journael vande Personen die op Spitsbergen in't over-
winteren ghestorven zijn Anno 1634." Vide Tiele's Me'moire bibliographique,
p. 213. for further bibliographical information.
CH. XV.
1 86 The Ryke Yse Islands
entrance of West Bay, which was full of ice. Not till July 4
could they reach Smeerenburg, where the boats of Gale
Hamkes brought them to the "tents" of Hoorn. "There
we at once set to work and made our three shallops ready,
which we had left behind the year before with all their
belongings. Very soon we had killed three fish 1 ." Later,
two more Hoorn ships came into the bay, and the survivors
were divided between them, and so returned home at the
end of the season.
From this account it is evident that Mauritius Bay and
the neighbouring sounds were still an excellent whaling
base. Yet it was about 1640 that the whales began to grow
" shy of the Cookeries and anchorages of the ships, shallops,
and what pertained to them 2 ." The whale-boats had to
await them nearer the open sea. For some years a profit-
able fishery was carried on at the North bank, a shoal near
the entrance of the North Bay, and at Keerenskaar, a similar
bank at the mouth of West Bay. It was possible to tow
a dead whale thence to Smeerenburg, but as the whales were
driven further off, Smeerenburg became a less and less con-
venient cookery. Perhaps this began to be recognised about
1642. The sea-fishery was open. There was no monopoly
there. Zaandam ships in 1640 fished in the open sea,
apparently with success. In 1642 we read of blubber
being brought home unboiled. That was presently to
become the Dutch method. When the whales finally for-
sook the bays there were plenty of men already trained to
kill them out at sea.
About this time (1640-45) an old Vlieland whaler named
Ryke Yse, pursuing his business to the eastward, discovered
the islands that still bear his name, where no ship had been
before. "He found on them an incredible number of
walruses and killed many hundred of them, so that, besides
the blubber, he brought away an incredible wealth of tusks,
and his owners sold them so well that they made a bigger
profit than anyone ever heard of from such a voyage 3 ." It
was really useless to renew the Noordsche Company's
1 It is thus evident enough that in 1639 there was no scarcity of whales in
Mauritius Bay.
2 Zorgdrager, German edn. pp. 232-235.
3 Zorgdrager, German edn. p. 200.
Hamburger Bay 187
privilege, which had become unpopular, was contrary to the
spirit of the age, and was allowed to lapse. This was
generally recognised, and so, as Aitzema says, " it dis-
appeared into the wilderness and desert 1 ."
Apparently it had been almost a dead letter for some
time. Yet the Company were still urgent to keep com-
petitors away from Smeerenburg, a proof that the fishery
there remained valuable. But they were unable to keep
any place to themselves. Over a hundred ships were
in Mauritius Bay in a single season. In 1642 the Ham-
burgers took part in the whaling industry for the first time.
They settled at Hamburger Bay, just outside the Dutch
limits. They would not have done so if the whales had
altogether retreated from the bays. In the English area
there seems to have been no diminution in the supply of
whales, for the number of ships sent up had not been enough
to frighten or materially reduce the whales that frequented
the central and southern harbours. What was happening
at the south-east we do not know.
After the failure of Vrolicq's Company, no regular
French company sent ships to Spitsbergen. The Dutch
mainly supplied France with train-oil and whalebone. But
in 1644 a new an d powerful whaling company was formed
and chartered, with Mazarin himself for protector. He was
paid a "gift " of 180,000 livres for his help ! The Company
was bound to send out from 25 to 30 ships each season.
The enterprise appears to have prospered for a time. The
charter was renewed in 1669, but the Company's activity
shortly thereafter ceased 2 .
About 1644 Smeerenburg's decline had begun. The
whales were in steady retreat and had to be followed along
the north coast. In 1646 the season was only opened at
Mauritius Bay. The fish were now flensed where they
were killed. In the ice the " making off," that is to say the
cutting up of the blubber into small pieces and stowing it in
casks, was done on the spot ; but if the coast was near, the
whales were flensed on shore. If the shore was not near
enough for that, they were flensed at sea and the making off
1 Saken van Staet, II. p. 808.
2 See article by Dr E. T. Hamy in Bull, de geog. hist, et descript. Paris,
1901, p. 34.
CH. XV.
1 88 Decline of Smeerenburg
was done on shore. At first the "trying out" was done on
shore as soon as possible. Now, probably, were built the
number of small cookeries whose ruins and foundations may
still be traced at different points along the north coast.
Zorgdrager saw ruins on the Zeeland look-out, Biscayer's
Hook, and many other points further east, apparently as far
as North-east-land 1 . The number of whalebones that lie
along the shores of Hinloojpen Strait and North-east-land
are monuments of old Dutch flensing.
Finally the whales forsook the coast altogether, and could
be taken only at sea. Smeerenburg was still used for some
years as a storing-place, but it ultimately became valueless
even for that purpose, and then it sank to be a mere
harbour of shelter for damaged ships requiring refitment,
for which purpose we know from Martens that it was used
in 1 67 i. Before that time, however, the furnaces had all
been pulled down, the coppers taken away, the coolers
destroyed, and the buildings emptied. It was a sign that
the Dutch bay fishery was ended. " Trying out," as the
boiling-down process was called, was now done at home in
Holland. Cookeries were set up, especially in North
Holland (at Oostsanan) and Rotterdam 2 . There was like-
wise one at Hamburg. The train-oil was thus more care-
fully made, and the by-products were saved. The fritters
left after the first boiling were sold to other manufacturers,
who made of them a second-rate oil and turned the final
refuse into dog's meat and glue. Some Dutch ships per-
haps boiled down their oil at sea, for in 1655 a derelict
Dutch whaler from Spitsbergen was towed into Dartmouth,
having on board a great copper vessel of 10 cwt. and oil in
casks 3 .
In 1 67 1, when Smeerenburg had been abandoned for
some years as a place of industry, it was visited by Martens,
who published in his journal a description of the site, illus-
trated by engravings of his own sketches. The ship, on
which he was surgeon, sailed into Fairhaven by the West
Bay. "Then," he writes, "comes Smeerenburg (Plate
C, k), where houses built by the Dutch are still standing.
They are every year falling to ruin and being
1 Zorgdrager, German edn. p. 210.
2 Zorgdrager, p. 343 ; Martens (Hak. Soc. edn.), p. 131 ; J. Honig, Studien,
p. 161.
3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1655, p. 324.
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Ruins of Smeerenburg 1 89
burnt down. This year several houses were standing, like
a village, and some of them were burnt. Over against
Smeerenburg are other houses and one copper remaining.
They call this place the Cookery of Harlingen. This year
there were still four houses. Two were warehouses ; the
other three (sic) were dwellings. The houses are built in
this fashion, not very big, with a room and an attic in front
and the house behind, fitted with a bedroom 1 . The ware-
houses are somewhat larger. Many casks (Fasser oder
Kardelen), quite sprung open, still lie in them. The ice
stands in a true round of the exact shape of the casks.
Anvil, smith's tools, and other implements belonging to the
cookery, were frozen up in the ice. The coppers stood just
as they were built, and the wooden coolers by them.
Thence you can go (? by land) to the English haven. On
the other side is a grave-yard where the dead are buried.
The soil there is rather crushed, like earth ; it is only, how-
ever, made flat with toil. Behind these houses (of the
Harlingen Cookery) are high mountains. If a man climbs
these or others, and does not mark the footsteps or rocks
with chalk, he cannot tell how to come down again ; for
though it seems easy to go up, to climb down again is so
very dangerous that many fall and are killed. This bay is
called the South Haven or bay, and if the ships suffer
damage they are brought here to be repaired. In front in
the South Haven, in the valley between the mountains,
much fresh water" collects In the North Haven or
bay is a great mountain or bay that is flat above. This
island is named Vogelsang, because of the multitude of
birds which settle on it ; when they fly up they cry so loud
that one can scarcely hear for it....
" One night, in the clear sunshine, we went for a league
along the rock-cliffs of the English haven, looking for a
whale we had lost. In the middle of the haven others were
rowing with the boats. They were scarcely visible. A
great mass fell down from a mountain with a loud noise.
The mountains were of a black colour marked with white
veins [i.e. couloirs] of snow. It was so still that scarcely a
1 " Mit einer Stuben und Boden, hinter ist das Hauss, so breit es ist, niit
einer Kammer versehen."
2 This fresh water was on Danes Island, in a valley in the north side. It is
marked on several of the later charts, and is often referred to.
CH. XV.
1 90 Ruins of Smeerenburg
breath of air could be felt, and it was not cold. The shore
was full of walruses. Their bellowing was like the bellow-
ing of oxen heard afar off."
The question as to when Smeerenburg was abandoned
is not without interest. Muller thought that it declined with
great rapidity even before 1640, and that it was abandoned
not long after that date. There are reasons for thinking
that such was not the case. The fact that Martens saw an
anvil, smith's tools, and valuable coppers still there, is proof
of relatively recent frequentation. More important is it to
observe that the first known local chart of the Smeerenburg
bays was not published till 1655 (by Doncker), and that
copies of it were reissued much later. The chart of 1655
marks the sites of the cookeries as though then still in
use. Moreover in the text accompanying Doncker's atlas
Smeerenburg is referred to in terms that imply its being
still in use. He writes of seeing the ships as you sail in
from the north, and how you come first to the Amsterdam
" tents," off which the ships ride, moored to the land. Then
follow the tents of the Chambers of Middelburg and
Flushing and others, but before the westerly " tents " a reef
shoots out so that ships cannot there come close to the
shore. Icebergs falling from the glaciers E.S.E. and E.
by N. across the sound sometimes rock the ships before the
Amsterdam "tents." Such information would hardly have
been printed in 1655 if Smeerenburg had been deserted for
a dozen years or more. The English bay fishery in Bell
Sound did not become unprofitable till after 1655.
About 20 years after Marten's visit, Zorgdrager was an
active, if unlucky, whaling skipper, and paid frequent visits
to Spitsbergen. He knew the site of Smeerenburg well,
and records (p. 224, Germ, ed.) that in his time nothing
remained but the foundations of houses and of eight or ten
boilers. He was no longer able even to estimate how
many buildings once stood upon the flat ground. Nature
had repossessed her own, and the traces of man were
rapidly disappearing.
As late as 1773 Phipps records that the whalers used to
resort to Fairhaven at the end of the fishing season. He
mentions the ruins of Smeerenburg as still visible. In 1784
another visitor records that nothing but foundations were
left. Traces .of them can still be seen to-day.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE DECLINE OF ENGLISH WHALING.
With the abandonment of the Noordsche Company's
monopoly in 1642 the Dutch whaling industry took a rapid
and great development. New and better ships were built
for the trade ; 300 ships sailed yearly to the fishing,
giving employment to no less than 18,000 hands. For
130 years, from 1642 to about 1770, the trade throve
and brought immense wealth to Holland. But it no longer
concerns us, for it was not a Spitsbergen trade. The fleet
often, as we shall see, used a Spitsbergen harbour to
assemble at before their return home, but Spitsbergen
ceased to be the base of the fishery. The English whalers
apparently took no part in the sea fishery. Whales kept
coming into their bays and that sufficed. They went to
the eastward no doubt towards the end of the season, and
if home conditions had been favourable they would have
proved as enterprising as their Dutch rivals. But home
conditions were not favourable. The Civil War upset
everything. As Elking says, "it interrupted and dis-
couraged the merchants in this, as in all their trades, so
that this Fishery hath been lost to them ever since, some
particular attempts to retrieve it excepted." It was not till
after 1770 when Dutch whaling declined, that the industry
took root again in England, and a period of great pro-
sperity followed ; but that is a story that does not concern
us here.
In 1643 ^ was no longer the Privy Council to whom the
quarrelling whalers appealed but the House of Commons,
whose Journals thenceforward contain many references to
CH. XVI.
192 Petitions to Parliament
the industry. Thus on April nth the merchants of Yar-
mouth petitioned the House, and their petition was referred
to the Committee for the Navy. They heard the case,
Merchants of Yarmouth v. the Greenland Co. of London,
ten days later, both parties being represented by counsel.
Witnesses were called on both sides. Evidence given by
the Hull whaler, Thomas Anderson, contains historical
information about the doings of the early whalers sailing
from that port which has been quoted above. The Hull
men boldly claimed right of access to the Spitsbergen
fisheries on the ground of Marmaduke's discoveries. The
Committee decided that the Yarmouth ships might go
to Spitsbergen this year, but must not injure the London
Company's rights 1 .
This was a merely temporary decision which settled
nothing. In 1645 the matter came again before the Com-
mittee for the Navy. Parliament, doubtless acting on its
advice, gave notice by their burgesses to all ports through-
out England that all who desired should within three
months signify their intention of taking part in the trade.
Those who did so should join the London Company in
guarding the Spitsbergen harbours against foreigners, and
should give an undertaking to Parliament to set out yearly
a definite proportion of ships. York, Hull, and Yarmouth
were the only towns that responded, and thenceforward
they seem to have acted in concert with the Londoners. It
is stated that the harbours occupied and defended were
Horn Sound, Bell Sound, Green Harbour, Cross Road,
Mettle Bay (perhaps King's Bay), and Sir Thomas Smith
Bay. It was decided at the same time that Bell Sound
(probably Recherche Bay only, not Bottle Cove) and Horn
Sound were to be reserved exclusively for the Greenland
Company 2 .
Next year, 1646, was signalized in the north by another
terrible tragedy. In the month of June a Dutch whaler
sighted an ice-floe off the west coast of Spitsbergen, which
seemed to have something peculiar on it. Sailing nearer
1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, Vol. 497 (1643), No. 68; House of
Commons Joiirnal, III. 39.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1653-54, pp. 419, 420; State Papers,
Domestic, Interreg., Vol. 179 (1658), No. 11.
English J Hi a Hug Disputes 193
they found it to be a man waving a rope as signal of
distress. He was one of five Englishmen afloat on the
floe, four of whom were still living and one dead. They
had cut out a cave in the ice and piled lumps of ice
round the hole for shelter, and there they had miserably
spent fourteen days. Originally there had been 42 of them,
the crew of an English ship, wrecked in the ice on their
way to the fishery. They had escaped from the wreck with
one boat. The captain and 17 men rowed away in this
boat in a gale, intending to go ashore and return for the
others, but nothing more was ever heard of them, and they
doubtless went down in the storm. The 24 men left behind
finished their provisions and separated on to various pieces
ot ice, in hopes that some might reach the shore. This
group had lived for several days by chewing a leather belt.
After being brought aboard the Dutch ship three of the sur-
vivors died from the effects of exposure. Only one man
was taken back to Delft and returned to England. The
others were never more heard of 1 .
For the next year or two we hear nothing except a
complaint that Thos. North has been fishing in one of the
Greenland Company's harbours, and a resolution of the
Parliamentary Committee for Trade confirming- the reserva-
tion of Bell Sound and Horn Sound to the Company.
In 1652 the regulation of the whale-fishery was again
considered by the Council of State 2 , who wisely concluded
to leave the matter to law or Parliament to decide " when
their weighty affairs permit them to consider it." Meantime
the parties were recommended to avoid occasions of inter-
rupting one another, and they should go up strong for
defence against strangers and help one another in case of
need. Letters of "private men-of-war" were granted to
the Company's ships, seeing that war with the Dutch was
expected. Finally during the season the Company received
special permission to send a ketch to Spitsbergen to warn
the whalers of the state of affairs. The 12 men in her
were to have protection against pressing.
Taking advantage of the " Mutacions of Government "
and of the encumberment of the legislature by "weighty
1 Churchill, u. 429.
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1651-52, pp. 177, 343, 344, 570.
C. CH. XVI. y
194 War Risks
affairs," Warner, Whitwell, and other "free adventurers"
sent up in 1652 "a small Pinke of 50 or 60 tun," and after-
ward "a shipp and a small Vessell intrudeing into the
harbours formerly kept and frequented by the Company and
them of Hull and Yarmouth, and refusinge to come in with
them in consorteshipp and to joyne offensive and defensive
to keepe the Dutch and French out of those Harbours."
Worse still they impudently brought in Dutchmen and other
strangers to manage their stock and adventure 1 .
To these internal troubles the uncertainties and alarms
of European war were now added. The Dutch having
neither men nor men-of-war to spare for protection of the
whalers, the whale-fishery was suspended for the season of
1653; but the English went up as usual. The Peace of
London, on her way to Spitsbergen, belied her name and
captured a small vessel of Rotterdam, which she brought
into Newcastle. Then she sailed on to the fishing and
killed three whales before the other whalers arrived — a
smart piece of work 2 . Two other ships, the Lotrisa and the
Hunter, on their way from Spitsbergen to Havre, were
taken by some Parliament ships and carried into Yarmouth,
and divers French mariners taken out of them were sent
with other Dutch prisoners to Chelsea College, but were
ordered to be discharged. It afterwards appearing that the
two ships themselves had had special passes from the
Council of State for the said voyage, they also were let go
after a month's detention. Shortly afterwards, when there
was talk of making peace with the Dutch, the Muscovy
Company cropped up with a petition that payment of that
,£22,000 which they had been trying to get ever since
1618 should be stipulated for in the treaty ; but they never
got it.
While the peoples of Western Europe were falling out,
Denmark, in a quiet way, took a notable step in the north,
for the King in 1653 sent out what may be called the first
scientific Arctic expedition. He despatched three ships to
explore the polar ocean and to make observations as to the
products and characters of lands and seas. These ships
1 State Papers, Domestic, Interreg., Vol. 66 (Feb. 1654), No. 66.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1644, p. 15.
The Free Adventurers 195
visited Novaja Zemlja and then sailed to Spitsbergen'.
Possibly some account of their doings may still exist in the
archives of Copenhagen. More information about early
Danish Arctic expeditions is much wanted. Some patriotic
Dane may find this subject worth investigation.
In 1654 a strong effort was made to put an end to the
whalers' disputes in Spitsbergen. We possess very full
accounts of the proceedings, which throw a welcome light
on the method of the bay-fishery as then pursued. Francis
Ashe, Governor of the Greenland Company, set the ball
rolling by appealing to Cromwell to make regulations for
the trade, so that rival interests should not clash in single
harbours and that more harbours should be fished. A
Committee of the Council of State was appointed to investi-
gate the question. Thereupon seventeen free adventurers 2
began a vigorous agitation. They not only appeared before
the Committee, but they issued a printed broadside, a public
protest addressed "to Parliament and every member
thereof," intended to affect public opinion in their favour.
From this and other statements we find that contemporary
politics were imported into the dispute. " We conceive the
right," say the free-traders, "which such as seeke to in-
grosse the trade and harbours to themselves, pretend to
have, is onely grounded upon a monopolizing pattent : which
came from prerogative power, and (is) not consistent with
the freedome of a Commonwealth and the members
thereof. In the late King's time the Company used all
unjust, illegal, and arbitrary means possible to suppress all
but themselves 3 ."
The free-traders claimed that the bays which the Green-
land Company wanted to keep to itself — Horn Sound, Bell
Sound, and Green Harbour (Ice Sound) — were the only
certain bays for whaling, other harbours being frequently
inaccessible by reason of ice. " No man will adventure
upon such uncertainty. So, in that the Companies desire the
Harbour of Bell Sound, they desire the whole fishing to
themselves." They claimed that there was room for all in
1 Zorgdrager, German edn. pp. 12, 13.
2 One of them was Launcelot Anderson, the Hull Captain who relieved the
winterers of 1630-31.
3 State Papers, Domestic, Interreg., Vol. 65 (Jan. 1654), Nos. 67, 69.
CH. xvi. 13 — 2
196 The Habits of the Whales
Bell Sound, even for the 1,100 tons of shipping they were
intending- to send up this season.
In their reply the Greenland Company relate that
where several interests fish in one bay there are sure to be
quarrels. Thus last year "a whale being struck by those
employed by the Company, divers of the contrary parties
struck in their irons into the same whale and occasioned
a controversy which rose to a very great height, and neere
unto bloodshed, had it not been prevented by a third party.
Yet nevertheless the contest continued so long that the loss
of the whale was much endangered, being neere driven into
the Seas, which occasioned 30 hours labour to our people
to save her and hath now occasioned a suit in La we."
Incidentally we receive some unique information as to
the behaviour of the whales at that time. It appears that
they came into the sounds in shoals of from 200 to 300,
" to gender, feed, and rubb themselves," and having arrived
would stay in a harbour for many days together. Such a
shoal consisted of a number of families which swam about
"ordinarily 2 or 3 or 4 together, one of which being strucke,
the others disperse themselves great distances some one
way some another," but it seems that whales not belonging
to the group of the one stricken paid little attention. " Soe
that when one Interest is onely there, they can take or
pursue such as are most likely to goe first out, and to follow
the rest at leisure ; whereas if there be divers interests,
each party disturbs the fish wheresoever it appeares, having
onely respect to their owne profitt, and soe suddanily scares
or drives away the whales." We learn moreover that in
Bell Sound the whales only frequented the broad part and
did not (in any quantity) " goe up the branch bays ; soe that
30 or 40 shallopps well man'd is sufficient to fish that
harbour, if not disturbed by others, and may kill as many
whales as if there were doble the nomber of boats." The
Greenland Company state that during five years they made
with three ships 500 tons of oil each year in Bell Sound
alone ; but that when the interlopers came there, double
the number of ships made only half that amount of oil, so
that the price of oil has risen from £\% to £$0 per ton, and
the price of whalebone from £ 1 to £S per cwt.
The best harbours, we learn, did not yield a profit
The Company s Claims 197
every year. The profit came from an extraordinarily good
year, which could only be expected once out of three to five
years. Then, many shoals of whales coming in, the whalers
might make as much as 400 tons of oil and whalebone
more than they could carry home. The overplus was left
in the storehouses and brought home afterwards as there
was room for it in the ships. The free-traders claim that
the)' possessed in Spitsbergen a warehouse even larger than
the Greenland Company's, which we know to have been
80 ft. long by 50 ft. wide. They also had many hundreds
of tons of casks stored there. Unfortunately we are with-
out any information as to the position of this great ware-
house.
Two points were specially urged on behalf of the
Company, and both were reasonable. The first was that if
the free-traders were allowed to sail, the fishery should be
regulated and each interest should be allotted to a special
bay or bays. In case all bays were open to all comers,
there would be a race for harbours : ships would start
unnecessarily early, and money would be wasted. No one
would keep in Spitsbergen " stone houses, or hang his
coppers, or make other durable provision and accommoda-
tion for lodging their men." There would be a rush for
Bell Sound (proof that this was certainly the best whaling
bay) and the " rest of the continent " being neglected would
fall to the Dutch and French. There were 40 or 50 har-
bours that the Company had discovered, " and the Contynent
lyes yet further both wayes." Finally the Company say
that they still send a pinnace yearly on exploration, as we.
know them to have done from the first. With so much
exploration it is wonderful that the English charts of Spits-
bergen were so bad. Probably the Company kept their
discoveries strictly secret. It is possible that some in-
formation about these unrecorded voyages may yet come
to light, if it is looked for.
The other important consideration urged was the
necessity for common action to keep the French and Dutch
from coming and fishing in their harbours. The prominence
thus given to the French is to be noticed, for little is known
about the French whale-fishery in Spitsbergen waters. The
importance of the operations of Mazarin's Company, formed
CH. XVI.
198 Proposed Regulations
in 1644, can be inferred from this reference. The 'Dutch
and French, say the Company, fish in numerous fleets at
sea, " and by plying neere the mouth 'of the harbours breake
and beat the scoales of whales." The Company were in
the habit of sending up well-armed ships of force, one at
least to each harbour, which lay " ready in a warlike posture
to defend the rest from surprize, whylest the others turne
the whayle." It is implied that the free-traders had no
right to avail themselves of this protection without con-
tributing to it.
The Company conclude with the statement that
"foreigners vend their worst and foulest oil (being for the
most part blubber oil and very ill sented) in this Common-
wealth." By blubber oil they presumably mean oil made
from blubber brought home to be boiled instead of being
boiled when fresh, which gave better results.
It must have been a foregone conclusion that Parlia-
ment would not exclude the free-traders from the fishery ;
and thus the committee seem to have decided at their first
meeting. The real question to be settled was under what
regulations the fishery should be carried on. Various pro-
posals were made by the contending parties. The free-
traders wanted all harbours to be open to all, the first
comers to have choice of place, but no more than a fixed
number of shallops to be allowed in each harbour. The
old partners were of course against this. Horth said that
Bottle Cove and "the Rock in Bell Sound" (Axel Island)
had been his stations for 26 years, and he had a right to
them. Finally the following scheme was drawn up 1 :
2 Where the London ships used to
Bell Sound «o be fished by 5 ships . , J* ^^xe.^'nd),
I i at Bottle Cove.
Horn Sound to be fished by 3 ships . M * Ham Sound,
1 at Mettle Bay.
Green Harbour (Ice Sound) to be f
fished by 2 ships. {
Cross Road and Sir Thomas Smith f 1 ship to lay in harbour and a pinnace
Bay to be fished by 2 ships . \ to ply to and fro or fish at sea.
In all 12 ships, of a total tonnage 3,000 tons, to set out
1 State Papers, Domestic, Interreg., Vol. 66 (Feb. 1654), Nos. 66, 67, 68, 69,
70. See Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1653—54, pp. 392, 419, 420, 421.
Proposed Regulations 199
12 shallops, with 420 seamen, and 160 landmen. At Bell
Sound 250 men, at Horn Sound 140 men, at Green Harbour
1 10 men, and at Cross Road and Sir Thomas Smith Bay
80 men. This suggested distribution enables us for the
first time to estimate the relative importance of the bays.
It was further suggested that the 3,000 tons of shipping
should be supplied in the following proportions :
The London Company ........ 1,600 tons.
Hull and York 400 „
Horth for Yarmouth ........ 500 ,,
Mr Whitwell and partners ....... 300 „
Mr Battson and partners (including L. Anderson) . . 200 „
It was further suggested that any English ship taking
whales at sea should be allowed to come into any harbour
to boil his oil, provided that he did not fish nor make a
disturbance there. A committee representing the various
interests was to be appointed, and names were suggested.
Objections were urged and counter-propositions put forward
during the month of March. The season was approaching,
and still the regulations were incomplete. Finally the old
London and Hull adventurers petitioned that, as the trade
could not be regulated in time this year, they might go up
with six ships and a pinnace on their own accounts, and
that their men might be free of impress. They sent in
a first list of 12 harpooners for York and Hull and 50
seamen, masters, and carpenters. Their petition was at
once Granted.
In April an ordinance for regulating the fishery was
published, whereby a committee of 24 was appointed to
make all arrangements according to the general regulations
already published 1 . Two men-of-war were likewise assigned
to protect the whalers. It is to be presumed that after all
this fuss the fleet of six ships and a pinnace ultimately
sailed. It was a small thing compared with the yo sail of
Hollanders escorted by three men-of-war under the com-
mand of Rear-Admiral De Witt, that the English admiral
saw sailing for the fishery on the 10th of May. He did
not venture to attack them, but one or two stragglers were
picked up during the spring, and at least two French
whalers were captured on their way home, laden with oil.
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1654, pp. 136, 176, 430.
CH. XVI.
200 A Glacier Adventure
It is clear that the Dutch were more enterprising in the
north than the English. When the whales forsook the
Dutch bays, the ships were obliged to give up the trade or
take to the open sea. They chose the latter alternative.
The English bays were still frequented by whales, so the
English stuck to them and did not learn the craft of sea-
fishing, in which the Dutch became more and more expert.
At present, in the fifties there were plenty of whales along
the shore of Spitsbergen, and there the Dutch and French
killed them. Each year made them more expert, and each
year diminished the supply of whales that reached the
English bays. They were killed or dispersed at sea before
reaching the bays. Thus the English fisheries were doomed,
and the English whalers were making no preparation to
iace the new conditions that must before long either termi-
nate or revolutionise their industry. The Dutch no doubt
still often landed on the Spitsbergen coasts, but they no
longer boiled down their oil there. They landed merely
to hunt reindeer, or, when there were no whales about, for
a mere change of scene.
Thus in this year, 1654, we read that Captain Ouwe
Kees went ashore with one of his lads and walked for three
hours up one of the largest of the so-called Seven Icebergs
or glaciers. They estimated that they went a fourth part
of the way up the glacier, a distance of more than a Dutch
mile. It must be remembered that these glaciers have a
very gentle slope and are rough and crevassed, so that the
yarn which follows cannot be literally true. It runs thus :
When they had gone as far as they cared, Kees said to his
fellow, " I am going back, but I have thought of an easier
way to go than walking. I shall just let myself slide." And
so he did, and travelled at such a pace that everything
shimmered before his eyes and he became like a blind man.
Not liking the sensation, he presently stopped himself by
sticking his heels into the snow. Meanwhile Bommel,
seeing how quickly and easily the captain seemed to be
going, sat down and followed him in the same way. Un-
conscious of any danger he let himself go ; waving his
handkerchief over his head he called out, " I am passing
you, captain." Thus continuing to glissade, he shot at last
over the end of the glacier, plump into the sea, falling quite
Old Kees' Glissade, from P.P.v.S.
Decline of English Whaling 201
double the height of the west tower of Amsterdam. The
captain, having with great difficulty stopped himself, was
glad to find an easier way where he could use his feet to go
on. He did not know where his companion had fallen or
flown to. On coming to his sloop he asked his men if they
had seen anything of Bommel. They said " No." " Then,"
said he, " he has broken his neck. But come, let us row
along by the foot of the ice and see if we can find him." Their
search was in vain, and they were about to sail away from
the place, assured that he was dead, when they heard him
calling to them, " Here I am, here I am." He was sitting
down below the foot of the glacier-cliff, having swum ashore
and scrambled along, and being little the worse for his ad-
venture. The real fact, I suppose, was that they indulged
in a sitting glissade down a hard frozen snow slope, ending
above the sea near one of the Seven Glaciers.
In his atlas of 1655 Doncker of Amsterdam states with
respect to Horn Sound that there "the English generally
have their Tents standing for their Fishing Trade ; the
whole land being indeed under the propriety of the English"
(Seller's translation, 167 1 ). But from this year the Eng-
lish whaling industry seems to have declined steadily. The
adventurers kept losing money and were greatly discouraged.
Moreover the cost of defence in those troubled times was
considerable. " In their whale-fishing," the Committee say,
"they often meet with French ships who would take them
prize if they were not strong 1 ." No less than 60 sail of
Frenchmen were on the Spitsbergen coast in 1655, and 50
ol them made great voyages. The Dutch whalers were
doubtless still more numerous. The only whales the Eng-
lish could get were those that had already run the gauntlet
through this fleet of enemies. Attempts were made by British
men-of-war to waylay these ships on their homeward way.
Captain Potter reports having chased for six hours and
fought for four with a Frenchman of 24 guns, returning from
Spitsbergen. She fought very stoutly. A violent storm came
on and the Englishman had to look to his own leaks, "having
received some unhappy shots under water as well as above."
He thus lost sight of his foe and believed she sank'.
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1655, p. 96.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1655, p. 525.
CH. XVI.
202 Adventure Bay
The English fleet in 1656 consisted of very few ships,
perhaps six in all. One was Whitwell's Adventure. It is
known that Ice Sound was Whitwell's station. Probably
Adventure Bay was named from this ship. Of late years
the name has been misunderstood and changed into Advent
Bay. It was proposed to the Admiralty that four or five
good frigates should ply off Cape Clear at a suitable season
to prey upon the Biscay fleet of Spitsbergen whalers " who
are generally many and make good voyages," but as no
captures are recorded the advice was probably not taken.
In 1657 at least five English ships went up. But the
adventurers seem to have had little hopes of much success.
Dutch oil came freely into England, the Customs officers
being bribed to let it pass ; and the London traders could
not sell their own stuff. In 1658 the London Company
were still urgent that the Government should help them to
keep outsiders from coming into Bell Sound. They sent in
an important but unfortunately inaccurate list of 2 1 Spits-
bergen harbours, to show that there was room enough else-
where for other interests 1 .
1 Printed at the end of this volume.
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CHAPTER XVII.
WHALERS' ADVENTURES.
The Dutch fishery was suspended in 1659. Of the
English we hear nothing-. Henceforward it is the rarest
thing to find mention of English whalers in our State-
papers. Yet it is probable that the fishery dragged on, for
in Macpherson's Annals of Commerce (11. p. 544) it is re-
corded that in 1668 no English whalers went out, and in
1669 only one ship. When the Royal Society of London
was founded, one of the first subjects to which it devoted
its rather rudimentary enquiries was Spitsbergen and the
whaling there. In 1662 it published a series of " Enquiries
for such as goe to Greenland, by Mr Hoskins 1 ." It is clear
therefore that some English ships still frequented the
Greenland {i.e. Spitsbergen) fishery. Such answers as
were received came, I believe, from Hull whalers. Those
preserved were supplied by Captain Lancelott Anderson
and Mr Grey 2 . Grey's notes are here reprinted with some
of the slight but spirited illustrations that accompany them.
They prove that to the last the fishery in Bell Sound was
pursued in the old-fashioned way, long ago given up by the
Dutch and French. The account is entitled " The manner
of the Whale-fishing in Greenland Given by Mr Gray to
Mr Oldenburg for the Society 3 ."
" We have according to the bignesse or smalnesse of
our ships, the more or fewer Boates ; a ship of 200 tuns,
may man six boats ; A vessel of 80 or 100 tuns, 4 boats ;
A Vessel of 60 tuns, 3 boats or more, not lesse ; 3 boats
1 For these and other enquiries, see Philosophical Transactions, II. p. 554.
2 They are printed in the Geographical Journal Tor June, 1900, pp. 628-636.
3 Register Book of the R. S. Vol. II. (1662-3), P- 3° 8 -
CH. XVII.
204 English Whaling Methods
being as few as may be with convenience to kill a whale.
Each boat hath 6 men ; A Harpeneir, Steersman, and four
Oars ; to which men the merchant giveth, (besides their
wages) for every 13 tuns of Oyle (which we call a Whale)
when there is so much for each boate, to the Harpenier
6/i. 10s., the Steersman 3/2'., and to each Oar 30.?., in all for
each boat 15/z. iar., which we call whale-money.
"We have several men and boats upon several convenient
places, which we call Look-outs 1 , that constantly remain
looking out by turnes for the Whale, which when we fish in
Harbour, cometh into a smooth Bay, where is a good
Harbour for our ships : And having discovered the Whale,
which swimmeth with her back above the water, or is
descried by the water which she bloweth into the Air, one
Lookout maketh signes to another, by hoysing up a basket
upon a Pole, and then all the boats row after her, and
having opportunity to row up with her, before she goeth
down, strike a Harping-iron into her, to which is a staffe
joyned being about 6 foot long, called a harping- staffe, to
the Socket of which Iron is a white rope, with an eye
seazed very fast : This Rope is about 5 fathoms long, which
Lying upon the forepart of the Boat (which we call a
Shallop) always coyled over a little pin, ready to take up,
to give scope to the Iron, when it is thrown at the Whale ;
and to this hand-rope is a warpe of 300 fathoms seazed, to
veer after the whale, lest, when she is struck, by her swift
motion (which is often down to the ground, where the water
is 60, 70, or 80 fathom deep) she should sink the boat.
"Thus having gotten our Iron into her, our boats row
where they think she will rise (after she hath been beating
her selfe at ground) and get 2 or 3 more irons into her, and
then we account her secure. Then when she is neer tired
with striving and wearied with the boats and ropes, we
lance her with long Lances, the Irons and stands wereof are
about 12 or 14 foot long, with which we prick her to death ;
and in killing her, many times she staveth some of our
boats, beating and flourishing with her tayle above water,
that the boats dare scarce come nigh her, but oftentimes in
an hours time she is dispatched.
1 Hence the various points named Lookout, or Uytkyk, on the older Spits-
bergen maps.
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The English Whale-fishery in Bell Sound, from contemporary drawings
to illustrate Mr Gray's description.
English IVhaling Methods 205
"Thus having killed her. our boats tow her (all of them
rowing one before another, one fast to another like a team
of Horses) to the ship's stern, where, after she hath layn
24 hours we cut off the Blubber, and take the finns (which
we commonly call the whalebone) and her tongue out of
her mouth, and with a great pair of slings and tackle, we
turn her round, and take all that is good off her, and then
we turn her carcass adrift and tow the blubber (cut in pieces)
to the shore where works stand to mannure (sic) it.
"Having made fast the blubber to the shore, we have
a Waterside-man who stands in a pair of boots, to the
middle leg in water, and flaweth such flesh as is not clean
cut from the blubber : Then we have two men with a
Barrow 1 , that when the YVatersideman hath cut it in pieces
about two hundred weight, carry it up to a stage standing
by our Works, like a Table ; then we have a man with
a lone knife, who we call a Stagc-cuttcr. who sliceth it into
thin pieces about halfe an inch thick, and a toot long or
longer, and throws it into a Cooler, we call a slicing-cooler,
betwixt which and another Cooler (called a Chopping-coolcr)
we have men we call choppers placed ; live or six men. who
upon blocks cut about a foot and halfe square (made of the
tayle of the Whale, which is very tough) do take the sliced
blubber and chop it very small and thin, not above a quarter
of an inch thick, and an inch or two long ; and thrust it oft
from the blocks into the Chopping-Cooler, which holds two
or three tuns : Then upon a Plat-forme is built a Copper-
hole, about 4 foot high, to which there is a stokehole, and
on this Copperhole is a broad Copper, which containeth
about a Butt, hanged with Mortar and made tight round
the edges. And over the Stokehole, upon an Arch, stands
a Chimney, which draws up the smoke and flame. And we
have one we call a Tubflller, who with a Ladle of Copper,
whose handle is about 6 foot long, taketh the Chopt blubber
out of the chopping-cooler and puts it into a hogshead made
with strapps for that purpose, and he drawes this hogshead
from the chopping-cooler's-side to the Copper and putteth it
in ; under which having once kindled a fire of wood and
boyled a Copper or two of Oyle, the scruffe which remains
1 .V<>/ a wheelbarrow ; vide illustration.
CH. XV 11.
206 Trying out
after the Oyle is boyled out of the blubber (which we call
Fritters) we throw under the Copper, which makes a feirce
fire, and so boyleth the Oyle out of the blubber without any
other fewell.
"Then when we find that it is boyled enough, we have
two men which we call coppermen who with two long-
handled copper ladles take both oyle and fritters out of the
Copper, about halfe, and put it into a Barrow (we call a
Fritter-barrow) made with two handles and barrell-boards
set about halfe a-quarter of an inch one from the other,
through which the oyle runneth and the Fritters remain ;
from which the Oyle being drained whilst another Coper of
Oyle boyles, they are cast into the Stokehole and burnt,
and the barrow stands ready again on the first Oyle-Cooler,
to receive what is taken out of the next Copper. Out of
this barrow the Oyle runs into a great thing we call a Cooler
made of Deal-boards, containing about five tuns, which is
filled within an inch of a hole (made in the side for the Oyle
to run into the next spout) with water to cool the Oyle, and
so the Oyle runs upon the water, through this hole into
a spout about 10 or 12 foot long, into another cooler filled
as aforesaid and out of that, through a long spout into a
third filled as aforesaid and out of that, in a long spout into
a Butt laid under the end of this spout, which being full, the
hole of the Cooler, next the Butt is stopt till another Butt
is laid under, and then the plugg being taken out, it filleth
another, till we have done boyling : Then we fill up our
Oyles, when they are thoroughly cold, and marke them and
roule them into the water, rafting 20 together, and so tow
them aboard, hoyst them into our ships, and stow them to
bring them home.
"And for our Finns, which grow in two Gumms in the
whales mouth (whereof in a whales mouth, great and small
are about 600, 460 whereof being merchandable) we cut
them one by one out of the gumms and having rubb'd them
clean we bind them up 60 in a bundle, and so taking account
of them ship them aboard in our Long-boat.
"Upon the shoar we have a Tent for our Land-men,
built of stone, and covered with Deals, and Cabbins made
therein for our Blubber-men to lodge ; And we have a
great Working-tent with a Lodging-room over it, where,
Better Charts 207
about 6 Coopers work, to get ready Cask to put the Oyle
into."
The only English reference I have been able to find to
the year 1663 is a warrant, issued to Robert Child and
William Bowles, to make needful provision for such deer
as might be brought alive by them from Spitsbergen 1 .
Whether any arrived is not recorded, but the warrant
implies that an English ship was intended for the fishery.
This year is however noteworthy in the Dutch Spitsbergen
annals, not for any new discovery, but for the first record of
a group of discoveries. Up to 1662 no chart (so far as
I have been able to discover) depicted the east coasts of
Barentsz and Edge Islands, or marked Hinloopen Strait
and the islands farther east, excepting, of course, the Mus-
covy Company's map, published in 1625 by Purchas, which
tentatively marked the south point of North-east-land. It
is recorded that the Ryk Yse Islands were discovered about
1640-45, but until this year, 1663, they were not inscribed
on any chart. This year, however, Hendrick Doncker, of
Amsterdam, issued a new chart of Spitsbergen in many
respects far better than any that had gone before. In it
he not only clearly showed Liefde and Wijde Bays, giving
to the latter its full extension and marking a great glacier
at the head of it, but he plainly marked the "Straet van
Hindeloopen " and beyond it a piece of North-east-land
including " Brandewijns baij." Further on he also marked
the Seven Islands. He was vaguely informed about North-
east-land and only ventured to indicate it as a number of
small islands, nor was this inaccuracy corrected till after
Giles' voyage of 1707. The west shore of Hinloopen
Strait he marked decidedly, introducing the later-named
Treurenberg Bay under its earlier designation Beere Bay,
and likewise marking the east mouth of Heley's Sound by
the name " 't Schip d' Eenhoorn baij,'' perhaps after the
ship which discovered it. He names the hill immediately
south of it Lommeberg. The modern Lomme Bay, whose
entrance might be easily missed in a fog, is not marked at
all, and the result was some confusion in nomenclature at
a later date.
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1663-64, April 9.
CH. XVII.
208 The Bad Season of 1665
Still more noteworthy is the representation of Edge
Island, now clearly shown with the " Ryck Ysse Eylanden"
off its east cape. Two anchorages are marked on its east
coast. They, like the anchorage off Whales Head and
another off one of the Thousand Islands, undoubtedly repre-
sent whaling centres. There are ruins of Dutch cookeries
still existing not far from Whales Head, and Lamont noticed
others on Ziegler Island, which must therefore be the place
indicated by the last-mentioned anchor. Anchorages are
also marked off Hope Island. Here then we have almost
the only exact record of the Dutch fishery in the south-east.
We know it to have been extensively carried on. We may
perhaps conclude that it was in full swing about or shortly
before 1663, the year in which this important chart was
issued.
In 1665 and the two following seasons the whaling
voyage was prohibited by the Dutch Government, on
account of the war 1 ; but the French continued to venture
forth and several of their ships were captured by English
and Scotch privateers 2 . In 1668 the Dutch whaling fleet
went up again and had bad luck, for 1 7 ships were wrecked.
That was the most icy season on record. The ice-pack
came down so far south that no ship could pass north of
the Foreland. The wrecked ships must have been destroyed
in consequence of these unusual conditions. As a result of
the small import of train-oil into Holland, the price of rape-
seed rose fast and it was briskly exported from Hull*. The
price of rape-seed at this period was a measure of the
prosperity of the whaling industry. In a good whaling year
rape-seed was almost unsaleable. In a bad year it was in
great demand.
A certain P. P. v. S., who published a volume of Dutch
whalers' yarns 4 , records a great bear-fight which the crew
of the ship Hope of Whales had in this year, 1668. The
1 Scoresby, Arctic Regions, n. 55.
2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1666-67, pp. 109, 136; and 1667,
pp. 71, 389, 413, 506, 509.
3 R. Geog. Soc. Proceed, ix. p. 173; Calendar of State Papers, Domestic,
1667-68, p. 544 ; and 1668-69, p. 17.
4 P. P. v. S. "De seldsaame en noit gehoorde Wal-visvangst, etc." 2nd edn.
Leiden, 1684, 4to. There is a copy in the Royal Library at the Hague (W. 5895);
and one in the British Museum. Many of the stories are incorporated bodily by
Zorgdrager, without acknowledgment, in his Part 3, Chap. XI.
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The Man under the Bear 209
ship was lying; in the ice and the crew were engaged in
flensing some whales. They had retired for a few hours'
sleep when the bear appeared on the floe. A couple of boats
put off after him, Captain Jonge Kees being in the first.
The bear took to the water and the captain coming up with
him struck him fairly with his lance so deep and well-
planted a wound that they thought he must immediately
die. Not to spoil the skin they refrained from striking him
again. The bear, however, swam about and then climbed
on to a piece of ice where he lay with his head on his paws
like a cat watching a mouse. The captain, therefore, to
give him his coup de grace sprang on to the ice alone
with a throwing-lance in his hand. Suddenly the bear,
with one leap of 24 feet, was upon him and had overthrown
him and knocked the lance far away. With his feet upon
the man's breast the bear was about to tear him to pieces.
The men in the boat yelled but they appear to have been
unarmed. One of them, however, seized a boat-hook and
rushed to help his Captain, and the other boat approaching
at the same moment the bear took to flight. He ran to the
edge of the ice so close to one of the boats that they could
have reached him with a lance, but the Captain shouted to
them not to thrust, fearing that the bear would leap into the
boat and kill some men. They threw a lump of wood at
him, which missed, and the bear ran after it like a dog after
a bone, growling horribly. Then eight men got on to the
ice and went for him. As they advanced he slowly gave
way, showing his teeth at them. Then the Captain threw
a lance at him and again missed. The bear stood over it as
though daring anyone to come and get it. They pursued
him from one piece of ice to another, a snow-storm raging
all the time. At last the brave beast's strength failed and
he laid down and died.
This bear story had a more remarkable success than
almost any sporting tale known to fame. It even survives
till the present day, not only in print but in an oral
form, and I have been told it by one of Jonge Kees'
descendants, Mr G. J. Honig of Zaandijk. Jonge Kees,
it appears, was the younger brother of Old Kees, of whom
we shall have more to say presently. He lived at Zaandam
and was a very prosperous person. The bear adventure
C. CH. XVII. 14
210 Dutcli Arctic Art
was his chief title to fame and he did not fail to put it
forward. He was known and is still remembered by the
nickname, "the man under the bear"; in fact he practically
adopted as his badge a figure of a man lying beneath a
bear. He had the incident carved as a bas-relief in stone
over the door of his house. I have seen a drawing of the
bas-relief, but the stone itself is no longer visible. It was
last seen broken into four pieces, and used as ballast for a
canal boat. Bes, the Zaandam dealer, informed me that
the pieces were used in the foundation of the new house
built on the site once occupied by the abode of Jonge
Kees, which was burned down in 1836. His portrait is in
Zaandijk Museum, where also are his set of wine-glasses
engraved with "the man under the bear." There too is
the go-cart of his grandchildren, with the same incident
painted upon it, and other personal subjects, as well as
scenes from the whale-fishery. There is also a large
picture of the bear adventure in the museum and a copy
of it in Mr Honig's collection. Both picture and copy
are signed " Tet Roe," a painter not known to nor de-
serving of fame. The actual skin of the bear remained in
the family down to the death of Mr Honig's grandfather,
when it was sold. It was the largest polar bear-skin ever
seen in Zaanland 1 .
It is remarkable that, so far as I can discover, none of
the many hundreds of painters, who flourished in Holland
during the 1 7th century, attempted to paint Arctic subjects.
A few Dutch pamphlets dealing with Spitsbergen affairs
are illustrated with rather rude woodcuts, and we find a
few amateurish drawings of the whale-fishery of this date.
Holland possessed many sea-painters, yet I have failed to
identify, after long search, more than one 1 7th century picture
of a whaler. Pictures of ships sailing away or arriving are
common. The sailing and return of the whaling-fleet was
a great event at Amsterdam. Surely some painter must
have depicted it. It was not till quite the close of the
17th century, when Dutch art was declining, that the
whaling industry was made the subject of pictures. In
the 1 8th century they became common enough, but none
1 Engravings of Jonge Kees' portrait and of Tet Roe's picture may be seen
in the "Zaanlandsch Jaarboekje voor het jaar 1853" (Zaandijk), which also
contains an article on the famous skipper.
Pictures of Whaling 2 1 1
of them seems to be concerned with Spitsbergen. It was
the sea-fishery that was painted.
The best picture of the sort that I have found is one by
Lieven Verschuyr, recently purchased for the Rotterdam
Museum of Antiquities on the advice of Mr B. W. F. van
Riemsdyk, Director of the Amsterdam Museum. Through
his kindness I am able to include a reproduction of it here.
Another good whaling picture by A. Hondius is in the
Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, representing whalers
shut up in the pack. A second-rate artist, named A. van
Salm, a Zaanlander, seems to have devoted much attention
to this class of subjects. I possess a drawing by him.
Better are two large signed monochromes by him in the
Zaandijk Museum, where also is a companion picture of
the blubber-boiling establishment (Trankokerijen) at Oost-
sanen. The whaling skippers gave plenty of employment
at this time to third-rate village artists. In Zaanland I saw
numbers of trays painted with incidents from the whale-
fishery, as well as two or three bureau-desks similarly
decorated. Seamen's chests were likewise so adorned.
They were of a roughly cylindrical shape like the trunk
of a tree hollowed out. Edam Museum contains the
seaman's chest, dated 1706, which belonged to Jacobus
Jongtyts, skipper of De Joanna of Amsterdam. There is
a very busy whale-fishing painted on it. A poor artist,
Joghem de Vries, painted the fishery in 1772 on a tray, and
I also saw a similar picture by him.
The finest whale-fishing that I have seen is boldly
painted in blue on 63 white Delft tiles by the good Delft
painter Baumeester 1 . He also painted a yet larger Herring-
fishery, now in the Amsterdam Museum. Whale-fishing
scenes may also be found very delicately engraved upon glass
bowls, a good example being in the little Museum at Zaandijk.
Among the tales recorded by P. P. v. S. is another
bear-story, — an adventure that happened to two youths
who landed and walked along the shore. One of them
carried a lance ; the other was unarmed. A bear spied
them and rushed upon them. They could not run away
so had to abide the shock, the unarmed lad standing
behind the other. The bear leapt upon them but was
1 It is in my own possession.
CH. XVII. 14—2
212 An Adventure
fortunately stricken to the heart by the first blow and fell
dead at their feet. Attacks by Polar bears are very rare, those
beasts generally being afraid of man. Now and again,
however, one does attack in this fashion and unarmed
men have sometimes fallen victims to such mischances.
Another good story is told of the harpooner of Old
Kees, a well-known whaling captain of those days. It
happened in 1660. One day the cry went up "Whale!
whale ! " Old Kees came up with the fish first and struck
the harpoon into her himself. A second whale-boat came
up immediately afterwards. Its harpooner Jacob Dieukes
stood ready to strike another harpoon into the whale when
she returned to the surface. Unfortunately she came up
immediately under his boat and smashed it with her head,
knocking the crew out. Dieukes, instead of falling into
the sea, landed on the whale at the thin end of the beast
near his tail. His harpoon stuck into the whale and he
himself was entangled by the line so that he was firmly
attached to her and must go where she took him. The
whale swam away, faster than the boats could follow, with
the harpooner riding her. They called out to him to cut
the line and free himself but he could not o^t at his knife.
After a long and perilous ride his harpoon came loose and
he was able to part company from his undesired mount. A
boat soon rescued him from the water, none the worse for
his strange adventure.
In 1670 we hear of English ships in the Spitsbergen
waters, their ill-success being recorded. Apparently they
killed no right whales at all. As however we are told that
they made 24 tons of oil out of white whales it is certain
that they must have been prosecuting the bay fishery.
White whales were always taken by the English when
they had the chance. They were caught in nets, or rather
driven ashore by aid of nets, and so could only be taken in
the bays. The white-whale fishery continued as a supple-
mentary industry to other forms of Arctic hunting down to
a recent time in Spitsbergen. It is probable that the utter
failure of the English in 1670 put an end to their whaling.
Next year the Dutch were so successful that the price of
rape-seed at Hull fell "to nothing 1 ." There is no record
1 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1660-70, p. 433; 1 671, p. 471.
Martens Voyage in 1671 213
of an English ship setting forth. Henceforward for about
a hundred years foreigners had the industry practically to
themselves. Attempts were sometimes made to revive it
in England by legislative enactments, but they failed one
after another. The first was made in 1672 and elicited
but a feeble response. Later efforts were no more
successful till over 60 years had gone by. A sea fishery
was then established, but Spitsbergen was little affected
by that 1 .
The visit of Frederick Martens, a Hamburg surgeon,
to Spitsbergen in 1671, makes that year an important one
in the history of that remote region. He was moved to
make the uncomfortable journey by a scientific impulse.
To accomplish his end he enlisted as ship's surgeon on
the Jonah in the Whale, a ship of Hamburg, which sailed
from the Elbe on April 15th, was off Jan Mayen on the
27th, and sighted the southern extremity of Prince Charles'
Foreland on May 7th. "The land," he writes, "appeared
like a dark cloud, full of white streaks." When they first
came near the Foreland, the foot of the " mountains looked
like fire and the tops of them were covered with foggs.
The snow was marbel'd and looked as if it were boughs
and branches of trees, and gave as bright and glorious a
oloss or shinine to the air or skies as if the sun had shin'd."
Of the interior he knew nothing ; he only went along the
shore. "The miles," he says, "look very short but when
you go to walk them upon the land, you find it quite
another thing and you will soon be tired ; and also because
of the roughness and sharpness of the rocks, and for want
of a path, you will soon get warm be it never so cold. A
new pair of shoes will not last long here."
The Jonah in the Whale hunted whales in the open sea
west of Spitsbergen for over 5 weeks, killing 8 whales,
besides seals, bears, and walruses. On June 14th they
came to an anchor off the site of Smeerenburg. We have
already quoted Martens' description of the place as it then
appeared in its desolation. On Amsterdam Island he
noticed "a great and high mountain," which, he says,
" is usually covered with cloud, when the wind blows over
it, and darkens the haven as if smoke were comino- from it.
1 Scoresby, II. 67-95
CH. xvii.
214 Martens Observations
On the mountain stand three white hills, covered with snow.
Two of these hills stand near together." Zorgdrager
(p. 288) climbed this mountain in 1703 or 1704. He calls
it Marri met de Brosten, which Muller says should be
Moer (mother) met de borste. " These breasts," says
Zorgdrager, " are merely great ice-mounds, as large as
a small Dutch sand-dune by the seashore, or a great
haystack." They then sailed on past Vogelsang and
eastwards apparently to near the mouth of Hinloopen
Strait. They did not yet know for certain whether it was
a strait or a bay 1 . They also saw the Seven Islands in
the distance. On July 22 they set sail to return home.
He records that it was the whalers' custom in his time to
hunt in the open sea between Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen
in May and June, and near the Spitsbergen coast in July
and August. The further the season advanced the more
easterly were the whales. This Zorgdrager explains at
great length. Martens speaks of seeing plenty of ships.
As many as thirty were in sight at one time.
Martens made the first botanical collection known to
have been brought from Spitsbergen. He also observed
the birds, and made all kinds of observations on natural
phenomena that he could think of. His published account
of his journey laid the foundation of arctic science. It was
a most successful book. His statements, quoted or merely
stolen, were practically all that was known about Spits-
bergen before the scientific expeditions of the nineteenth
century. Martens states that the Enquiries of the Royal
Society were brought under his notice by Mr Oldenburg,
doubtless the same Fellow whom we have seen com-
municating the answers of Mr Gray. He endeavoured
to reply to them and thus enlarged the scope of his
modest work. The book was illustrated with several
interesting plates. It was translated into many languages
and often reprinted".
1 If Hinloopen Strait was so named after Thymen Jacobsz. Hinloopen, a
manager of the Noordsche Company in 1617 and later, it seems likely that
it had been explored long before 1671, but there was a strange general ignorance
about its south end till the explorations of Giles in 1707.
2 The English translation was first published in a volume entitled "An
Account of several Late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North
By Sir John Narborough, Captain J. Tasman, Captain John Wood, and Frede-
rick Marten {sic). London, 1694, 8vo. This translation was republished by the
Hakluyt Society in White's Spitsbergen. London, 1855, 8vo.
CHAPTER XVIII.
INCIDENTS OF WAR AND OTHER EVENTS IN
SPITSBERGEN WATERS.
Sooner or later the echoes of European wars were
generally heard in Spitsbergen waters. So it happened
in 1674, when three French frigates, under the command
of Panetie of Boulogne, cruised in the northern seas. The
highest latitude they reached was yy°. There, probably
near or in Horn Sound, they captured 10 Dutch whalers.
They carried away two of them laden with the cargoes of
the rest, put the crews of all ten into a third and sent them
home in her, whilst they burnt the remaining seven. The
greasy hulls must have made a fine blaze 1 . The Dutch
ships must have gone up at their own risk, for from 1672 to
1674 the fishery was formally suspended in consequence of
the war 2 .
On modern charts a bay on the north side of Ice Sound
is marked Klaas Billen Bay. The name was not, however,
originally given to it, but to a bay on the other side of the
sound, now popularly known as Advent Bay (Adventure
Bay). Captain Cornelis Claasz Bille was a well-known
Dutch whaler, and there is a story recorded about him
by P. P. v. S. which here finds place, for the adventure
happened in 1675. Bille's ship had had a good season and
was ready to sail homeward fully laden when she had the
misfortune to be beset and apparently crushed by ice.
The captain and his crew of 34 persons took to the
boats in haste, having only 48 pounds of bread and 4
1 Journal du corsaire Jean Doublot de Honjleur. Edited by Ch. Breard.
Paris, 1887, pp. 37, 38.
2 In 1672 (May 18) a Flushing privateer took a French ship "bound for
Greenland." Calendar State Papers, Domestic, 1671-72, p. 407.
CH. XVIII.
216 Claasz Billes Misfortune
Edam cheeses with them. They rowed and sailed about
for a fortnight and had given themselves up for lost,
suffering as they did from hunger and cold. One of the
boats, containing six men, then reached Smeerenburg where
they found a Dutch whaler anchored to an ice-floe. They
were taken on board and fed, but four of the men still
seemed very ill and told the surgeon that it was their feet
that hurt them. They were in fact frost-bitten. The
surgeon forthwith prepared a tub filled with salt-water
warmed with salt meat (saltz Wasser von Peckel-Fleisch
warm) and made them keep their feet in it — an extra-
ordinary treatment, ice-cold water and friction being the
right counteraction for frost-bite. After an hour their feet
became much more painful and then the surgeon said there
was hope of their cure, and in fact in a few days' time when
the dead flesh had been cut away and the wounds properly
dressed the men recovered and went to work again.
Cornells Bille with fifteen men found another ship like-
wise near Smeerenburg. Three of them were still worse
frozen but the same surgeon cured them by a remarkable
treatment. He applied some powerful remedy to the dead
flesh which came away in 18 hours, and the wounds healed
ten or twelve days later. This year no less than 13 Dutch
ships were destroyed and 72 men killed by one icefloe
near Smeerenburg. 125 ships collected at Fairhaven and
thence sailed for home in company.
The discursive P. P. v. S. likewise preserves an account
of the adventure of four Dutch ships in the following year
1676. It resembles that of Nordenskiold and some
Norwegian sloops about 200 years later. Old Kees,
Young Kees (in the Hope of Whales), and Veen were
whale-hunting in their respective ships in the northern
part of Hinloopen Strait, off the great glacier whose long
sea-front occupies about two-thirds of the coast between
Heckla Hook and Lomme Bay. It was late in the season
(Aug. 13) and they were about to sail home when the ice
packed down on them from the north and drove them hard
aground. They were firmly beset and could see no open
water in any direction. The days were shortening and the
cold strengthening. Old Kees' crew began to murmur.
Presently they came to the captain and said that they
Old Kees Decision 217
proposed to take boats, fill them with three weeks' pro-
visions, drag them over the ice and abandon the ship.
Old Kees reasoned with them and tried to persuade them
not to do so, but they were not to be persuaded. Then
Old Kees told them to go if they would, but that if they
went he would not under any circumstances receive them
back again. He would stick by whomsoever stayed with him,
but the men that left him must shift for themselves. They
must live or die by their own actions. This declaration
frightened them and they stayed. They had their reward,
for (19 days after they were beset) on September 1st, in
calm weather, there came, how and whence they knew not,
a great movement in the sea. The ice broke up. The
ships were rocked about and moved into deep water.
Slipping their anchors they sailed away at once, rounded
Parrot Hook, reached Biscayer Bay and Smeerenburg a
day later, and all arrived home in safety.
A similar misfortune happened in 1683, but had no such
lucky issue. Thirteen Dutch whalers were in Treurenberg
Bay when the ice packed down on the entrance and enclosed
them. That was always the danger of this bay, and its
name Treurenberg or Sorge Bay may have been given
to it in consequence, the true Treurenberg perhaps being
some look-out point, whence the behaviour of the pack
was watched. The enclosed Dutchmen this time abandoned
their ships, dragged their shallops over the ice into open
water, and fortunately succeeded in reaching other Dutch
whalers on the west coast before they had sailed away for
home 1 .
The Revolution of 1688, which seated William of
Orange on the throne of England, and the consequent
War of the Grand Alliance against France, lasting from
1689 to tne Peace of Ryswick in 1697, were not without
their effect on the Spitsbergen fisheries. Dunkerque
privateers were now able to prey on the whaling fleet
of the Dutch, as they preyed on the merchant fleets of
all the opposing Powers, and they did so with great effect,
hor the time they paralysed English foreign trade. These
were the great days of Jean Bart, Pointis, Duguay-Trouin,
1 See Relation du Voyage, etc., printed by Dr E. T. Hamy in Bull, de geog.
hist, et descript. Paris, 1901, p. 51.
CH. XVIII
218 French Raid in 1693
Nesmond, and the like bold privateer-captains. The prizes
captured by the Dunkerkers during this war were sold for
no less than twenty-two millions of livres. At the beginning
of the war the combined English and Dutch fleets were no
match for the French. The battle of Beachy Head in 1690
established their inferiority. Two years later however the
tide turned and the great naval victory of La Hogue
transferred the command of the Channel to the allies,
who held it thenceforward. We read no more of naval
engagements between powerful fleets but of raids upon
the commerce of the contending nations. It was not likely
that the whalers would be forgotten. It is recorded that in
1690 the French corsair, Jean Bart, entirely destroyed the
fishery of the Dutch, where and how I have not been
able to discover. The doings of a French naval expedition
to Spitsbergen in 1693 are, however, fully reported and
have been made the subject of an interesting article by
Dr E. T. Hamy, illustrated by reprints of contemporary
documents 1 . The following: account is based on this
article.
The expedition was undertaken by advice of Renau
d'Elicagaray, "le Petit Renau" as he was called. Monsieur
de la Varenne, captain of the Pe'lican, was in command.
He was accompanied by three other frigates : V Aigle,
le Favory, and le Prudent. The soul of the expedition
was a Basque with the monstrous name, Johannis de
Suhigaraychipe, better and more easily known as Coursic
(le petit corsaire) or Croisic (le petit croiseur). He was
captain of F Aigle. It is recorded that in the preceding
six years he had captured more than 100 ships from the
Spanish and Dutch. Another Basque, Louis de Haris-
mendy, was captain of le Favory ; whilst Jacques Gouin
de Beauchene commanded le Prudent. Most of the
officers, pilots, and mariners seem to have been Basques.
The squadron came in sight of Spitsbergen on July 28th.
Next day they captured a Danish ship, which was empty,
and made her follow them. They found and took two
1 In Bull, de geog. hist, et descript., Paris, 1901, pp. 32-64, with reproduc-
tion of contemporary chart. The principal document appended is entitled,
" Relation du Voyage de Spitsbergen en Groland, par quatre frdgattes, sous les
ordres de M. de la Varenne, Capitaine de Vaisseau." This appears to have
been written by a Basque officer of the Favory, probably Ensign d'Etchebehere.
French Captures 219
more Danes in Magdalena Bay. Varenne's instructions
were to burn or sink all ships Hying the English, Dutch,
or Hamburg flag. In the case of ships flying the Danish
flag he was to examine whether they were really Danish,
and if they were he was to let them continue their fishery,
and even help them in any way he could. Ships that were
doubtful, or were recognised by the Basques as really
Hamburg or Dutch, he was to capture and lade with the
cargo of the burnt ships, if time allowed, and was to send
them to France under escort, manning them with prisoners.
In case there were too many of these, he was to save
enough ships to hold them and let them sail away to
their homes, after depriving them of all cargo and tools
for the fishery.
The French with their three prizes entered South Gat
and there found 15 or 16 Dutch and Danes. Le Favory
was promptly sent to Danes Gat to take the whalers there,
but they received news overland (by way of Danes Island)
before le Favory could arrive, so three vessels escaped and
got away north-eastward to warn the rest of the whalers.
In all they captured four Dutch in South Gat, and the rest
Danes. There were two other Dutch in South Gat "who
escaped by a way which was unknown to the commander.
On being informed he sent his lieutenant in the great
shallop armed, to try and stop them, but he could not do
it, finding resistance superior to his forces."
On the 30th le Favory captured a new Dutch pinnace
returning empty from the ice, and r Aigle took a Dutchman.
Next day le Favory took two more Dutchmen and a Dane
and brought them all into the South Gat, whilst on Aug. 1st
r Aigle came in with two Dutch prizes, having burnt
another, and seen about 50 Dutch whalers to the north-
eastward in the ice. Harismendy, taking Croisic with him,
went on board the Pdlican and told Varenne what he had
seen. They urged that the fleet should be at once pursued.
Varenne seems to have been inert, and was censured for it
when he returned home. He said he would stay where he
was and guard his prizes but that I' Aigle and le Favory
might go in pursuit, and that if le Prudent returned in time
he would send her after them, which, however, did not
happen.
ch. XVIII.
220 Frigates find the Dutch
L 1 Aigle and le Favory, with their enterprising captains,
immediately sailed northwards, but calms impeded them.
On the 4th they came to a field of ice, two leagues wide
and longer than they could see in both directions. They
found a lead and passed through into open water beyond.
They then saw that the enemy were near the great pack,
so they sailed towards them. On the 5th, being quite near
the pack, they counted 45 whalers in or near it, and 9 at
the mouth of Treurenberg Bay. They call this Beerbay,
"la baye aux Ours." Dr Hamy identifies it with Lomme
Bay ; but though Lomme Bay is sometimes wrongly marked
" Beer Bay" on old charts, the true Bear Bay was Treuren-
berg Bay, and all the topographical indications, as well as
the map illustrating the report, prove this to have been the
scene of the fight that presently took place. The French
decided to pursue these nine ships and accordingly sailed
through a thick mist in that direction. About midnight on
the 6th the weather cleared and all the French could
see were three Dutch ships in the ice and four entering
Treurenberg Bay, just where the nine had been the day
before. The French concluded that they would find the
rest within the bay and decided to follow them. The
wind falling they were obliged to tow the frigates with
four boats to each. They thus approached the bay, keeping
the lead going. On a tongue of land at the mouth of the
bay, on a little rising ground, they saw an earthwork with
guns and a Dutch flag flying 1 ; but this did not frighten
them. Forging ahead they neared the fort, which fired on
them but did no harm. When they could see to the bottom
of the bay they counted 40 whalers, all flying the Dutch
flag, and they distinguished amongst them those of the
admiral, the vice-admiral, and the rear-admiral. All the
ships were ranged in good order in a crescent formation.
The two frigates were towed up to the Dutchmen within
half the range of a 3-pounder, which was as far as they
could come in consequence of the calm and of the current.
Then they cast anchor "et nous mimes de cotte entravers
1 Parry in 1827 ("Narrative," p. 137) found 30 Dutch graves on this spot,
but the oldest with a date was of 1738. A grave dated 1690 was on the beach
E. of Hecla Cove. These dated graves to the eastward might be used as
implying "open ice" years. Unfortunately not many of them have been recorded
by travellers.
Fight in Treurenberg Bay 221
au moyen de nos croupieres." The Dutch raised derisive
shouts of Vive Ic Roy! and other cries which the French
could not understand.
Croisic and Harismendy sent a shallop well equipped,
Hying a white flag and with a drummer, under the command
of Ensign d'Etchebehere, who could talk Dutch well, to
summon the Dutch to yield. When this shallop approached
the admiral of the enemy it was met by a Dutch shallop
escorted by others. The Dutch captains replied to the
summons to yield that they were surprised at such temerity,
in that the French should think of attacking them when
they were in such numbers and moreover in a place the
dangerous character of which the French probably did
not realize. They refused to yield and declared themselves
ready to acquit themselves of their duty.
Before the French shallop had returned to the frigate
the Dutch began to fire their guns both on the shallop and
the frigates. The former was hit, but without damage to
its crew. The shallop containing Captain Harismendy,
who was returning to his ship from P Aigle, was likewise
hit. This was between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning of
August 6th. The fire of the Dutch continued heavy till
1 o'clock and was warmly replied to by the French. The
whalers had crews of about 40 to 45 "good men, all
sailors," and each ship from 10 to 18 guns. As long as
their powder lasted "their discharges went on as regularly
as if they had been from musketry." The French state
that their own fire was so effective that if the sea had not
been absolutely calm, "as in a fountain," most of the whalers
would have sunk.
After five hours' fighting the Dutch fire slackened but
the French continued as vigorously as ever, expecting to
see the enemy hoist the white flag and ask for quarter,
seeing that they had almost ceased firing. Instead of
doing so, however, several of them cut their cables and
started towing out, each being towed by six or more
shallops, doing their utmost to escape from the bay by help
ot the shallops and the current. The French had only two
shallops left, one for each frigate, the rest having all been
destroyed in the fight. They were thus unable to prevent
the escape of most of the whalers, but they captured 13.
CH. XVIII.
222 The French Prizes
If Varenne's ship or le Prudent had been there the whole
fleet would have been taken. This fact was duly reported
to the authorities in France on their return. Varenne was
censured and deprived of his command. It is stated that
he was quite inexperienced in arctic navigation, whilst
Croisic and the other Basques were experts, so that the
real censure ought to have fallen on those who appointed
an unsuitable commander. The two frigates were not
badly damaged. " L ' Aigle a este obligee de changer son
mat de mizaine et gimeler (jumeler) ses basses vergues.
Le Favory a eu un mat de hune de rompeu et sa vergue
d'artimon, un canon creve et 2 de demontez." Two men
were killed on the Favory, one of them being an officer
who had volunteered from the Pe'lican. "II a finy
glorieusement, ayant receu un coup de canon a la cuisse
et apres avoir donne des marques fort sensibles tant de
sa valleur que de son experiance et bonne conduite." The
losses of I Aigle are not recorded. There were also several
wounded, some of them maimed for life. Nothing is said
about the losses of the Dutch.
On the 7th the French sailed away with 1 1 prizes,
having burnt the other two. On the 9th they met the
Pelican, which had just taken two Dutchmen. On the 10th
they rejoined Varenne in South Gat. During their absence
he also had taken two prizes. In all they captured 28
Dutch whalers, of which they burnt 17 and took the other
1 1 away home. Le Pe'lican and le Prudent sailed on the
1 2th, leaving the other two frigates to convoy the prizes.
They sailed on the 14th, and on the 17th they sent away
to their own country 16 Danish vessels carrying the Dutch
prisoners. They contained but little cargo. The writer of
the report suspected that these ships really belonged to
Hamburg. Most of their captains admitted that they were
Hamburg men. Their method was to take out papers at
Altona, which then belonged to Denmark. They paid fees
for them into the Danish treasury. This suited the Danes
and enabled the Hamburg merchants to trade in time of
war as safely as in peace. Croisic concluded to let them
go because their cargoes were not worth seizing.
One of the officers on his return to France transmitted
to the Due de Gramont a chart representing the doings of
Dutch Losses 223
the expedition 1 . It was shown to the king, Louis XIV,
who expressed himself pleased with the behaviour of the
officers and crews of VAigle and le Favory, and promised
to remember them " quand il y aura lieu de leur faire
plaisir."
It was the impression of the French that they had
entirely overthrown the voyage of the Dutch this year,
and that those ships that escaped must have returned
home practically empty ; but such, as we shall presently
see, was not the case.
G. van Sante's records for this year incidentally throw
some welcome light upon the method of the fishery at this
time. The beginning of the season was poor. Only one
Dutch ship was successful. She killed 12 whales and went
home full-laden before the French arrived. Eight Dutch
ships and ten Danish were lost by misadventure in the ice.
Thus it happened that the whalers had to go eastward as
the season advanced to make their voyage, and they had
just come among a quantity of whales and were doing well
when the French fell on them. One ship was already
full-laden. Five dead whales were found drawn up for
flensing en the shore of Treurenberg Bay. Undoubtedly
the French interruption at so critical a moment did great
damage. It appears that the Dutch ships that escaped
made off down Hinloopen Strait. They refitted somewhere
and perhaps continued their fishing after the French had
gone. It is stated that at this time only the Dutch went
so far east. None of the Basques had ever been there ;
for this part was considered very dangerous, as the ice might
pack down quickly and shut up the entrance of Hinloopen
Strait. The French were afraid it might do so while the
fight was proceeding because the pack was only about two
cannon-shots away and was rapidly approaching. A south
wind, however, sprang up and saved them from being
enclosed in Treurenberg Bay along with their enemies.
A manuscript in the possession of Mr G. J. Honig of
Zaandijk enables us to complete the story of this season.
From it we learn that 89 ships went to the fishery. As
1 It is preserved at Paris in the Depot des cartes et plans de la marine,
Pf. 2, div. 7, p. 1. There is a full-size tracing of it in my Spitsbergen Atlas at
the R. Geog. Soc, London.
CH. xvm.
224
Record of War Losses
only 62 are indicated on the French map, the rest may
have been off Edge Island at the time of the French raid.
Of the 89 ships 26 were taken and 6 were wrecked in the
ice. The remainder brought 175 whales home. The rate
of insurance at the time, covering both sea and war risks,
was 2 per cent. This year the whalers paid 71,200 florins
for insurance and received 666,100 florins from the under-
writers, so it was the latter who suffered. The rate of
insurance next year seems still to have remained 2 per cent.
Mr Honig also possesses the balance-sheets relating to
the voyage of two Zaanland whalers this same season.
Albert and Cornelis Claesz were their skippers. Both
made very profitable voyages, and not only repaid a
balance of loss on their ships from preceding years but
paid a big profit besides, the price of oil being unusually
hi^h.
1693 was not th e on ly year in which Dutch whalers
suffered the misfortunes of war. French writers claim
that in 1696 the famous Jean Bart captured a Dutch fleet
of 106 sail in the north, after carrying by boarding five
States men-of-war which were sailing as convoy. Bart
is said to have admitted 61 of these prizes to ransom.
The cold and unimaginative account-books belonging to
Mr G. J. Honig, however, with their records of rates of
insurance, sums paid to and received from underwriters,
price of oil, and so forth, disprove this assertion. They
record, from year to year, the total number of Dutch
whalers that were taken. The numbers are as follows :
1696
I
1697
2
1702
3
1 703
17
1705
4
1706
2
1710
2
Notwithstanding such mishaps, the whale-fishery became
increasingly popular in Holland.
In 1693, as we have seen, 89 Dutch ships went to the
fishery. It is not surprising that in 1694 their number
sank to 63 ; but in 1695 they rose to 97, in 1696 to 121,
and in 1697 to 129 (which confirms the untruthfulness of
Jean Bart's boasted captures). The number steadily in-
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Zorgdrager 225
creased to 207 in 1701. The English meanwhile were
inactive. Their whaling industry never recovered from
the troubles of the Revolutionary period, and they had
lost the art of organising it. In 1694, indeed, an
English Company speculated in whaling, but they were
extravagant in equipment and wages. Reindeer skins and
horns were permitted to be the captain's perquisite, a
foolish arrangement, for it made captain and crew, who
were certain of their wages and were not paid by shares,
more anxious to hunt and supply themselves with venison
than to go out after whales. The Bay fishery tradition was
also firmly fixed in their minds. The ships, says Elking
(p. 47), went "to the bays and diverted themselves with
hunting the deer, and left the shallops to look for whales.''
The voyage was consequently a failure.
The year 1697 was universally remembered as the best
known till then for the Spitsbergen whale-fishery. At this
time Cornelius Gisbert Zorgdrager was a whaling captain.
He made his first voyage as " Commandeur " in 1690 1 .
He was reputed, and is still noted at Zaandam, an un-
fortunate skipper. Honig 2 says that between 1700 and
1705 he lost two ships, and that in the other four
voyages he only got thirteen fish. In 1720 he published
his important book on Dutch whaling, to which I have
been much indebted. That work incorporates without
acknowledgment matter previously published by others :
Leonin's account, P. P. v. S.'s stories, Marten's observa-
tions, and perhaps other writings that I have not identified.
In the midst of this patchwork Zorgdrager inserted his
own notes, reminiscences, and the traditions of his men.
Speaking of the year 1697, he says, that at the close of
the season he lay in Recherche Bay in his ship the Four
Brothers with 7 whales on board, along with over 200
other ships mostly well laden. They had collected together
for safety, owing to the war with France. They were
convoyed home by nine Dutch and two Hamburg men-of-
war. "Among all these ships there was not one that
1 He says (p. 209) that on the occasion of his first voyage to Spitsbergen
he saw two English warehouses still standing in Bell Sound. The date may
have been about 1670.
2 Studien, p. 65.
C. CH. XVIII. 15
226
The Great Yea?' 1697
had killed no whales. Many were full-laden. The least
successful Dutch ship had three whales. In this inner
bay, which is named Schoonhoven, all these ships were
able to ride together with a good sandy anchorage, pro-
tected from all winds. There also came in and joined
us several Russian vessels, to take advantage of our
convoy 1 ." We possess three several lists of the ships and
cargo of this year". The following is given by Harris.
Ships sent out
Ships lost
Whales
Casks of blubher
Dutch
Hamburg ...
Danes
129
5i
2
4
12
2
I
7
4
1,255
449§
113
52
96
2
1
2
41,344
16,414
540
1,710
3,79°
68
17
Totals...
201
1 1
1,968
63,883
The total value of all the blubber and whalebone was
.£378,449, whereof £249,532 fell to the Dutch.
This, the first mention of Russian vessels in Spitsbergen
waters, deserves notice. As Russians are not included in
the above list of whalers it is probable that they did not go
up in pursuit of whales. An important export from north
Russia was skins and furs. The people of the White Sea
were expert huntsmen, and were wont to frequent Novaja
Zemlja for the chase. It is probable that they came to
Spitsbergen to kill seals, walruses, bears, foxes, and
reindeer, as we shall presently find ample record of their
doing through a long series of years. At present their
appearance attracted little notice. It seems to be implied
1 Zorgdrager, German edn. pp. 208, 209.
2 Zorgdrager, loc. cit., B. du Reste's in the Histoire des Pec/ies, and one in
Harris's Travels, II. (a), p. 398 (edn. of 1748).
Russians at Spitsbei'geii 227
that they only came up for the summer. When they took
to spending the whole year in this bitter land their
adventures and sufferings found frequent record.
In this very year 1697, when Peter the Great was in
Holland, the people of the great whaling centre Zaandam
performed for his entertainment and instruction an imitation
whale-hunt in their haven. One wonders whether the de-
velopment of Russian enterprise in Spitsbergen waters was
in any way influenced by that spectacle.
We find a simple statement that in the year 1 700 there
was a great whale-fishery near Stone Foreland 1 . The bare
fact is all we know. It suffices to prove that the coasts
of Spitsbergen were still frequented by whales, however
completely the bays may have been abandoned by them.
1 701 was another great season, when 207 Dutch ships
captured no less than 207 if whales 2 . Nothing is said
about where the fishing ground lay at that time, but
Zorgdrager (p. 288) in an interesting passage gives very
full information about the habits of the whales at this time.
"In the year 1703 or 1704," he writes, "when I came
out of the ice with two fish, I was beset in my ship the
White Sheep along with four others, below the Zeeuschen
Uitkyk (Outer Norway Island). We lay fast there for
several weeks and only got loose on August 24th, if I
remember right. We then sailed through along the coast
to Smeerenburg and from there on the 26th through South
Bay (i.e. West Bay) into the sea. The joy of our men to
find themselves again in the sea after so tedious and
anxious a besetment was very great and I fully shared it.
During the time we lay beset, we heard and saw whales
almost every day, sometimes few, sometimes many, often
within but oftener outside the bay. We were, however,
so firmly beset that it was impossible to fish. We often
landed on the Uitkyk (a high point) and saw from thence
the whales come up at small gaps and holes in the ice.
\\ hen one went down another came up in his place. As
we were sailing away we also saw several whales in the
North Bay, one of which came quite close to us, so that we
had a good chance to fish ; but we had enough to do to
save our ship, so we did not attack the whales. Likewise
1 Scoresby, n. 180. 2 G van Sante, p. xxvi.
CH. xvm. 15—2
228 Giles Voyage in 1707
when we were lying off Smeerenburg, we saw and heard
some whales round Maklyk Ond 1 and in the Dutch Bay.
While we lay there we climbed the hill (on Amsterdam
Island) called Marri met de Brosten, which breasts are
nothing more than big mounds of ice, about the size of
a large hay-stack or a small sand-dune, such as one sees
on the shores of Holland. We climbed up these mounds
and came down afterwards on to the main mass of the
mountain.
" From this mountain we saw some ships sailing outside
Magdalena Bay, and about it in the sea, and near the edge
of the ice, which was not far from land, for the whole fleet
was waiting for us in Magdalena and Cross Bays, the time
for sailing home having come. We could not see then, and
did not afterwards hear, that they saw any fish either in the
sea or under the ice near the land ; but near us wherever
the ice lay we saw many fish, that seemed daily to increase
in number."
Zorgdrager concluded that the fish knew the ships and
kept away from them, and that when they were aware that
the fleet was departed they disported themselves freely as
they used to do in the open sea and in the bays before the
whalers intruded upon them. Now, however, it was only
within the ice that they so behaved.
The year 1 707 is notable for the last important addition
to the knowledge of Spitsbergen geography added by
whalers while carrying on the operations of their industry.
The facts are briefly recorded in a letter of John Walig, as
follows 2 .
"In the year 1707 Captain Cornelis Gillis 3 , having gone
without any ice far to the northward of 8 1 °, proceeded from
thence east, and afterwards south-east, remaining to the
1 A misprint for Makkelijk Oud. Muller says that this was the name of
three small bays in Fairhaven, one just south of the N.W. point of the main
island, one (also named Krayennest) further S., and one in the S. coast of
the haven. Zorgdrager on his map marks it as the point or low ness forming
the N.W. angle of the island. His mention of the name, above, seems to imply
that it designated a cape. In Giles and Rep's chart it is marked in the middle
of the E. side of Fairhaven.
2 The letter is dated 3 Jan. 1775, and was printed by the Hon. Daines
Barrington {North Pole, edn. of 1818, p. 143).
3 The name is spelt Giles on his own map. It is also sometimes spelt
Gillies and Gilies. Giles is the best authenticated form.
Giles' Surveys 229
cast of the North-East land, when coming again to latitude
80 he discovered about 25 miles east from the country, to
the- north-east, very high lands on which, as far as we
know, nobody has ever been." In response to Mr Bar-
rington's further enquiries, he received the following account,
drawn up in March 1775, by Captain William May.
" Finding that Mr Van Keulen had put down (in his
chart) the land discovered by Captain Gillis, mentioned
in Mr Walig's letter, I went to him, to see on what
foundation he had placed that discovery ; but as those
papers could not be found, I applied to Mr Walig, who
told me, that Mr Cornelius Gillis had been an inhabitant
of the Helder ; that Walig. ..and others, since dead, had
often examined Gillis's papers, maps, etc., and found that
he was an enterprising man, and very accurate in his
remarks and charts ; that his grandson had his Journals
and other Papers in his possession ; and his granddaughter,
who was married to an officer of Walig's ship (who had
formerly been a commander) has his charts, some of which
that officer generally took with him, in order to correct
them. I begged hard to have them, if only for twenty-four
hours ; and next morning Mr Walig put into my hands the
original draughts of all the discoveries Mr Gillis ever made
with regard to Spitsbergen, excepting some particular
drawings of bays and views of land, with permission to
keep them in my possession till Mr Walig's return from
Greenland, copies of which are here annexed 1 ; and
Mr Walig promised to procure me, if possible, all the
papers of that old commander, before he left the Texel,
which I hope to receive in a few days, and shall not fail
in sending over everything I find material. Asking what
particulars Mr Walig and others remembered out of those
papers, they gave the following short account. " That
Mr Gillis passed more than a degree to the northward of
the Seven Islands, without any hindrance from ice ; that he
proceeded east for some leagues with an open sea, then
bent his course south-east, and afterwards south ; saw in
the latitude of 8o c , to the east, very high land ; ran
1 Daines Barrington therefore possessed copies of these important docu-
ments. " These," he says, " were copies of the draughts of the different coasts
of Spitsbergen, of which Captain Gillis hath taken accurate surveys."
CH. XVIII.
230 The Giles and Rep Chart
through {i.e. sailed down) the east coast of the North-
East Land, and entered the Waygats (Hinloopen) Straits ;
came to an anchor in Lamber (Lomme) Bay, and took two
whales, and from thence proceeded to the Texel."
The loss of Giles' papers is unfortunate, but it is
probable that his observations are all included in the great
chart of Spitsbergen, published (without date) by Gerard
van Keulen, and stated to have been edited by {opgegeven
door) the " Commandeurs Giles en Outger Rep." From
G. van Sante's list we learn that Rep did not sail for the
whale-fishery after 1 702. Giles sailed in the seasons from
1700 to 1714 1 . The discovery of 1707 therefore was made
by Giles only, and not by Giles and Rep as sometimes
stated 2 . The chart in question marks " Commandeur Giles
Land ontdekt 1707 is hoog land" a few minutes N. of 8o°.
It likewise depicts the whole of North-East Land and the
surrounding islands far more accurately than any previous
chart, besides correctly depicting Hinloopen Strait and the
coasts of Spitsbergen generally. Its worst part is the
northern half of Wybe Jans Water, obviously a mere copy
of earlier charts, with Heley's Sound running north.
Barents Island is fully attached to the main island. This
chart sums up the knowledge of Spitsbergen geography
obtained by the whalers and is a remarkable production.
Its weakest point is its nomenclature. The old names
given in the times of the bay fishery were already
becoming confused and transposed. The very sites of
the old fishing stations were forgotten. Many of the
modern blunders in the naming of the bays and capes of
Spitsbergen date from this chart.
Giles Land has seldom been sighted since Captain Giles
discovered it. Captain Carlsen, first circumnavigator of
Spitsbergen, saw it on August 16, 1863, when sailing down
the E. coast of North-East Land, as Giles had done.
Captain Tobiesen saw it on August 7th, 1864, from
near the eastern point of North-East Land. About 1896
Mr Arnold Pike's boat Victoria visited Giles Land on a
1 Both probably lived at the H elder, but they were employed by Zaanland
adventurers, Giles for a group of the inhabitants of Yisp, and Rep for Olphert
Daalder of Oostsanen. (Mr Honig's information.)
2 F. van Hellwald, Im ewige)i Eis, p. 390.
Giles or Gill is Laud 231
hunting expedition. Finally in 1898 Dr Nathorst in the
Antarctic not only circumnavigated and photographed the
island, but landed on its N.E. and S.W. points and in-
vestigated their geology. "Giles Land," he writes 1 , "was
glittering white from its highest summit down to the very
edge of the sea. It was covered throughout with its soft
mantle of snow ; not a rock projected through it to break
its spotless purity. The island rose in regular curves to an
altitude of 600 or 700 feet, and was one continuous mass of
ice and snow. The ice plunges down into the sea all
round the island (except at the N.E. and S.W. ends),
and is quite inaccessible, being abruptly broken off at the
water's edge, thus presenting a steep wall of ice to the
waves, and forming in some places big cubical icebergs....
With the sun shining upon it White Island (Giles Island)
must be a fascinating object. It is considerably larger than
previous maps represented it to be."
Henceforward the whalers' records are almost silent
about Spitsbergen, and the old traditions died away and
were forgotten. It was still, and for more than a century
remained, the custom for a whaling vessel to look into some
Spitsbergen harbour towards the end of its voyage, there
to "make-off" or clean ship and hunt reindeer 2 . A few
such references can be gleaned, though they are of little
interest. Thus in 1721 Kiihn, who was cook's mate on
the Einkorn of Hamburg, mentions seeing Klok Bay
(Bell Sound) and staying a while in Green Harbour to
clean ship, where two other Hamburg and six Dutch ships
were similarly engaged. He says that he saw there the
ruins of the huts where the Dutchmen wintered in 1633-4.
He was thus either at Smeerenburg and blundered over
the name of the harbour, or in Ice Sound and had forgotten
the place of the wintering. In the following year the ship
on which he sailed went to Moffen Island for walrus, and
cleaned up in Magdalena Bay, where they shot 18 reindeer.
In 1758 a Swedish medical student, A. R. Martin 3 , was
1 Geographical Journal, Aug. 1899, p. 170.
2 "When the Fishery among the Ice is over, the Ships go sometimes to the
Bays of Spitsbergen and the Men go ashore to refresh themselves. There they
find very good Deer, especially Roebucks : They are very fat." — Elking's Green-
land Trade, 1725, p. 31.
3 His journal is published in Ymer, I. 102.
CH. XVIII.
232 Bacstrom s Visit in 1780
allowed to sail as a naturalist, on a whaler sent out from
Gottenburg. He was only able to land for three hours, and
then not on Spitsbergen but on a small island near the
Foreland, where he gathered a few flowers, whilst his
companions killed eider-ducks, and collected a vast quantity
of their eggs.
In 1780 the ship on which Bacstrom was surgeon spent
three weeks in Magdalena Bay along with a number of
other whalers, for the purpose of "cutting the blubber
up into small bits to fill the blubber-butts." While the
crew "were ' making-off,' the masters, surgeons, etc., of
the different vessels then there visited each other and
diverted themselves in the best way they were able. Such
visits last sometimes 24 hours, for there is no night to
interrupt the entertainment." The season of 1780 was the
finest anyone could remember, "almost constant fine
weather." Bacstrom on this occasion attempted to climb
Roche Hill, but only got halfway up after several hours'
work. Such brief excursions on shore added nothing to
the knowledge of arctic lands. Martens remained the
great authority. It was not till the age of organised
scientific expeditions that scientific observers had a chance
of obtaining accurate information about the fascinating
lands of the north. Before those days came, however,
Spitsbergen was visited and even inhabited by men from
a nation that had taken no part in the whaling industry —
the Russian trappers. To these new folk and their new
occupations, ideas, adventures, and sufferings we must next
turn our attention. After the end of the 18th century the
Dutch fishery became unimportant. 1802 was the last year
in which many Dutch ships sailed for the fishery ; the very
last sailing was in or about 1864. It was from England
that the most successful whalers in the 19th century sailed
to the northern seas. With their doings, however, we are
not here concerned.
CHAPTER XIX.
RUSSIAN TRAPPERS IN SPITSBERGEN.
The whalers of the year 1697 recorded that several
Russian vessels were in the Spitsbergen seas that season.
They mention them casually and not as a novelty. In the
list of the year's bag of whales none are ascribed to them,
and we are probably safe in concluding that these Russians
did not come up as whalers, but as huntsmen, to kill white-
whales, walrus, seals, bears, reindeer, and foxes, and perhaps
to collect eider-down. Thus the Russian trappers frequented
Spitsbergen long before the whalers ceased to visit those
islands ; and, as we shall see, they, and their later Nor-
wegian rivals continued to make Spitsbergen their hunting-
ground for many years after the scientific exploration of
the country was definitely taken in hand. It seems best,
however, to depart from the strict chronological order which
we have thus far followed, and to treat the industry and
adventures of the trappers separately, for they had no
connexion with the whalers and in no way depended on
them.
From the narrative of the adventures of the four Russian
sailors, which immediately follows, we learn that the Russian
industry on Spitsbergen was fully introduced some years
before 1743, for it is stated that one of the four men, Ivan
Himkof by name, "had passed the winter several times on
the western coast of Spitsbergen." It is also recorded that
the hut in which the four unfortunates took refuge had been
built some time previously by some inhabitants of Mezen
who had intended to winter there. This hut stood about
a quarter of a mile from the sea. It was 36 ft. long by
CH. XIX.
234 The Four Russian Sailors
about 1 8 ft. broad. It had a small entrance-hall, or porch,
about 6 ft. wide. In the main chamber was a Russian clay
stove. In fact the hut was similar to others which at a
later time were dotted about all round the Spitsbergen
coasts. The fact that Zorgdrager, whose book was pub-
lished in 1720, knew nothing of Russian settlers wintering
in the island, seems to indicate that the Russian Spitsbergen
industry sprang up between that date and 1740.
" In the year 1743 Jeremias OttamkorT, an inhabitant of
Mezen in Jergovia, a part of the government of Archangel,
bethought himself of sending out a vessel with 14 hands to
Spitsbergen, to fish for whales and sea-calves {i.e. not to
winter), in which line he carried on a considerable trade.
For eight days together this vessel had a favourable wind,
but on the ninth it changed. Instead of proceeding to the
western side of Spitsbergen, to which the Dutch and other
nations annually resort for the whale-fishery, they were
desirous of sailing to the eastern side, and shortly reached
an island which is called East Spitsbergen (i.e. Edge
Island), known to the Russians by the name of Maloy
Brown, which signified Little Brown ; Spitsbergen proper 1 ,
being called by them Bolschoy Brown, that is, Great Brown.
They were within three versts of shore (two English miles),
when suddenly the vessel was inclosed by ice 2 ." The place
where this happened was probably on the south-east coast
of Edge Island.
Expecting the destruction of the ship, the mate Alexis
Himkof, his godson Ivan Himkof, and two other sailors,
Stephen Scharapof and Feodor Weregin by name, prepared
to land and search for a hut, which they knew had been
built by countrymen of theirs with a view to wintering in
those parts. It was determined that if the hut could be
found the ship should be abandoned.
The four sailors provided themselves with such things
as were necessary for their use during the few days they
1 They also called it Grumant, a mispronunciation of Greenland.
2 This is quoted and the remainder of the story condensed from
"A Narrative of the singular adventures of four Russian sailors, who were
cast away on the desert island of East Spitsbergen, etc." By P. L. Le Roy,
translated from the German original (s. 1. et d.) (London, 1774). Reprinted in
Pinkerton's Collection, and for the most part in Thomas Day's Sandford and
Merton (London, 1783).
Abandoned by their Ship 235
hiight be away from the ship, for they had to travel over
piled and broken ice for two miles to the shore. They took
a musket and twelve rounds of ammunition, an axe, a small
kettle, a knife, a tinder-box and tinder, about twenty pounds
of Hour, a bladder of tobacco, and each man his wooden
pipe. They soon discovered the hut about a quarter of
a mile inland.
Next morning they returned to the shore, and were
horrified to discover that ice-pack and ship had been carried
away and the open sea confronted them. The ship was
never heard of again. They immediately set to work to
patch up their hut by help of their axe and the driftwood, of
which they found a considerable quantity on the shore.
Their twelve rounds of ammunition procured for them
twelve reindeer, with which they started housekeeping. The
only vegetable product of the island was a little scurvy-
grass.
Amongst the driftwood they fortunately found fragments
of wreckage which provided them with some boards as well
as with a long iron hook, some big nails 5 or 6 inches long,
and other bits of iron. They also found a piece of fir root
which only required to be trimmed with their knife to form
a handy bow.
By heating the hook and working at it with a nail they
made a hammer of it. With a large pebble for anvil and
two reindeer horns for tongs they next forged two nails into
spear-heads and fastened them into wooden shafts with
thongs of reindeer skin. Thus equipped, they sallied forth
and slaughtered a white bear after a most perilous fight.
His flesh gave them food, and out of his tendons, which
they discovered how to split, they made cords which served
them for bowstring and for tying on to wooden shafts small
iron arrow-points which they made in the same way as the
spear-heads. With these arrows, during the years of their
imprisonment, they slew no less than 150 reindeer, besides
a number of blue and white foxes. Of bears they killed in
all ten, nine in defending themselves from attack and the
one above mentioned. Such was the entire supply of food
on which these men subsisted till August, 1 749 — a period of
six years. They smoked some of their meat, but ate most
of it raw, for they had to husband their fuel. It was this
CH. XIX.
236 The Four Russian Sailors
plentiful supply of raw meat and fresh blood, coupled with
their active life, that preserved three of them from scurvy.
The fourth, Feodor Weregin, who was an indolent man,
and, moreover, refrained from drinking reindeer blood, was
attacked soon after arrival in the island, and died of scurvy
shortly before the others were relieved.
To keep their fire continually alight was a prime ne-
cessity, for, their supply of tinder being exhausted, if it were
to go out they would be unable to relight it. They there-
fore determined to make a lamp. Nearly in the middle
of the island they found some earthy clay of which they
fashioned a rude pot. They filled it with reindeer fat, and
used some twisted linen for a wick. When the fat melted,
however, it oozed away through the sides, which were too
porous to hold it. So they made a new lamp, dried it
thoroughly, and then heated it red-hot, and quenched it in
their kettle in a mixture of flour and water boiled to the
consistency of thin starch. They covered its outside with
linen rags which had been dipped in the paste. This con-
trivance succeeded, and the lamp held oil ; they accordingly
made a second for fear of accidents. For wicks they used
a small quantity of oakum and cordage washed up with
the driftwood, and tore up their shirts and undergarments.
The supply thus formed lasted as long as they were on the
island.
They made clothes out of skins, which they soaked
several days in water till the hair could be pulled off, and
then rubbed dry with their hands and afterwards thoroughly
greased and rubbed. They made needles out of bits of
iron and wrought them with considerable skill, as was
vouched for by those who saw them on their return to
Europe. Sinews served for thread. In summer they wore
jackets and breeches of skins, and in winter long fur gowns
with hoods.
They described the island as having many mountains
and steep rocks of a stupendous height constantly covered
with snow and ice. Its only vegetation is scurvy-grass and
moss. About the middle of the island they found the "fattish
loam or clay" above referred to. There are no rivers, but
many small rivulets. As for the weather, they said that
from about the middle of November to the beginning of
Rescued after Six Years 237
January it generally rained hard and continually, and all
that time the cold was moderate. After this rainy season
severe cold prevailed, especially when the wind was from
the south. They once heard thunder.
Shortly after the death of Weregin the survivors, in
August 1749, were rejoiced by seeing a Russian ship, which
had been carried out of its course to West Spitsbergen by
contrary winds. She was driven close to shore just opposite
the hut. The men on board saw the fires and reindeer-hide
flag of the castaways, and came to anchor near the shore.
The three men agreed with the master of the ship to give
them and their goods a passage to Russia in return for
their work on board and a payment of 80 roubles. They
had accumulated 2,000 lbs. weight of reindeer fat and
quantities of furs and hides. They brought off also the
poor tools by whose help they had been enabled to keep
themselves alive.
They arrived in safety at Archangel on September 28th,
1749. Alexis Himkof's wife was present when the vessel
came into port, and immediately recognised her husband.
She was so overcome with joy and eagerness to touch him
that she fell into the water and was nearly drowned. All
three men on their arrival were strong and healthy. They
could not reconcile themselves to eating bread, nor to the
use of spirituous liquors, of which they had been so long
deprived.
Their adventures were noised abroad, and attracted
much attention. Alexis and Ivan Himkof were sent for
to St Petersburg, and took with them the tools they had
made on the island. Their story was carefully examined
by several persons, who became convinced of its verity.
It was written down and published in German by P. L. Le
Roy, Professor of History, and Member of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg. The pamphlet
had a wide circulation, and was translated into English,
French, Dutch, and (I believe) Italian, and published in
numerous editions.
There can be little doubt that the success of these men
in holding out so long against such appalling odds did much
to encourage the people of the White Sea to develop their
Spitsbergen hunting industry.
CH. XIX.
238 Russian Trappers
The Russian ship that relieved the castaways was itself
carrying up a party who had intended to winter in Novaja
Zemlja but had changed their destination to Spitsbergen.
No sooner did the castaways reach home than another
ship was sent up with a wintering party to the same place
on Edge Island where Himkof and his companions had
lived so long. It was despatched by Count Schuwalow,
who had received from Empress Elizabeth of Russia a
charter for the northern whale-fishery 1 . The crew of this
vessel reported that they found the hut, which appeared to
have been recently inhabited. In front of the door was
a cross with an inscription, stating that it had been set up
by Alexis Himkof and calling the island "Alexeyiewskoi
Ostrow."
Judging from the number of ruined Russian huts still
visible or recorded on all parts of the shores of Spitsbergen,
it might be imagined that a considerable hunting population
at one time inhabited the country. Such, however, was not
the case. Daines Barrington in 1774 writes that "there
are three or four settlements of Russians in Spitsbergen."
That number was probably about the maximum at any one
time. Keilhau states that the same site was not inhabited
by Russians in two consecutive years, and that, even so,
the wild animals and especially the walruses, grew to shun
the neighbourhood of a Russian hut. Thus it came to pass
that in process of time every considerable bay in Spitsbergen
contained two or three Russian huts of different ages 2 .
The trappers came from Mezen, Archangel, Onega, Rala,
and other places on the White Sea 3 . They sailed in vessels
of from 60 to 160 tons called "Lodjes." The normal crew
of a lodja was 22 men, who were paid either by shares or
wages. Those met by Bacstrom were paid by shares of
the season's bag. A share was one-thousandth of the bag.
The captain took 50 shares, the mate and surgeon each 30,
the carpenter, boatswain, and cook 10 each, every common
man and boy 1 share. This pay was generally enough
1 Keilhau, p. 161.
2 Passarge's Schwedischen Expeditionen, p. 355.
3 Vide Colonel Beaufoy's Enquiries, printed as an Appendix to Daines
Barrington's North Pole, London, 1818, p. 227. The answers to the enquiries
were obtained from Archangel. They are the source of most statements about
Russian trappers found in Scoresby and other writers of that period.
The White Sea Fishing Company 239
for a man to live on for a whole year ; more than enough in
the case of the officers.
Charitonow 1 , from whose most interesting account of the
Russian trappers I now quote at length, states that the
captain was paid 1000 paper-roubles and knew how to
make a further handsome profit by selling stores to the crew.
" With part of this profit he buys a cask of brandy and
divides it amongst the crew and thus all are satisfied. An
ordinary trapper receives for the voyage from 1 70 to 200
paper-roubles, varying according to the results of the ex-
pedition". About a week before he starts, he borrows from
the owner of the ship, on account, some sixty roubles, and
drinks and enjoys himself until he has only two kopecks
left. Once more sober, he goes to the church, confesses,
takes the Communion, and then starts at last, after offering
up a short prayer for his journey."
On their way to Spitsbergen they put in at "Wargajen
or Wardohuus, where they renew their orgies till they are
forcibly carried off by the Norwegians, at the request of the
Skipper, and carried on to their Lodja."
Such expeditions were usually sent out by private
adventurers or by a company, like the " White Sea
Fishing Company," which was at one time very prosperous.
When the trade declined, the last adventurers to send forth
expeditions w T ere the monks of the famous convent of Solo-
vetskoy on the White Sea. Some settlements were almost
permanently retained in Spitsbergen, the men going up one
year being relieved by a fresh crew next season. Such was
1 Die russischen Promyschleniks auf Grumant, in Erman's Archiv f. wiss.
Kundc von Russland (Berlin, 1851), pp. 9, 154, 184. The translations here given
were kindly made for me by Mrs W. Kemp Welch.
2 "The Trappers are usually divided into three classes, according to their
skill. To the first class belong the best shots and the cleverest ice-navigators,
who bring most gain to the Ship-owner, and for that reason are paid handsomely
by him — 100 silver roubles and more — to which must be added the skins which
they receive from the Skipper as a bonus. A marksman of this class easily
brings away 450 roubles as profit derived from his stay in Spitsbergen. The
less skilful members of the expedition receive a much smaller reward — at the
most 200 paper roubles. Their share of the skins, apportioned by the Skipper,
is also less than that of the first class. The third, and last, class is made up of
the novices, who make the journey for the first time, or who, through laziness,
have only taken a small amount of booty. Such folk receive only 125 paper
roubles, and do not share in the division made by the Skipper. There are
even men in the expedition whose pay does not amount to more than 60 paper
roubles." — Charitonow.
CH. XIX.
240 Russian Trappers
the Fairhaven establishment visited by Bacstrom. A ship
left Archangel in May, reached Fairhaven in June or July,
stayed there about three weeks to tranship cargo and crew
and returned to Archangel. Frequently the trappers hauled
their lodja on shore for the year of their stay, and dragged
it down to the water when the time for their departure
arrived. If the whole party died, as not seldom happened,
the abandoned lodja was their monument ; it might be for
years. The shores of Horn Sound and those of Wybe Jans
Water (Titowa Guba, as the Russians called it) retained
such tragic memorials till a relatively recent period.
The voyage from the White Sea to Spitsbergen was
a slow affair, and was reckoned, says Charitonow, to take
on an average about 50 days. This slowness is not sur-
prising when the lumbering character of the vessels is
remembered, and the fact that the captains were usually
simple peasants, with no knowledge how to take the simplest
observation, no sounding-line, no clock, only a compass and
a rough chart drawn by each pilot for himself 1 . One
wonders how they ever arrived anywhere. We often hear
of a lodja missing its way and reaching some part of the
coast entirely unknown to every man on board. But a trifle
of that kind was not disconcerting to these hardy fellows.
They seem always to have carried up with them materials
for building a head-quarters hut, as well as a number of
smaller outposts. We only read of two stations as con-
secutively inhabited for more than a single season — those
at Whales Point or Keilhau Bay on Edge Island, and at
Fairhaven. At Whales Point the huts were frequently re-
built on slightly different sites, and it may have been the same
at Fairhaven. The first work of every expedition, whereof
we have record, was to build its Isbuschka, headquarters,
or "establishment"; the next, either to build or to find out-
post huts, often at considerable distances away. Thus
outposts of the Whales Point Isbuschka were at Gotha
Cove, Disco Bay, and Cape Lee as well as on the east
shore of Decrow Bay and south-east coast of Edge Island.
There were also huts on Ziegler Island, Andree Island, and
others of the Thousand Islands, though some of these sites
were occupied as head-quarters. The outpost huts were seven
1 Erman's Archiv, Vol. xm. (1854), p. 261.
The Trappers' Huts 241
or eight feet square. The materials for them were carried
along the shore in boats, or on hand-sledges, and set up in
suitable positions. They were provisioned with food and
fuel for the two or three men who were to occupy each
of them.
These miserably small huts, says Charitonow, rocked
with every wind. Their interior presented a very luxury of
dirt. "Reindeer and other fat stewing on the fire diffuses
an intolerable smell ; hides hang in the Isba to dry, and the
whole floor is covered with reindeer skins. Added to this
in the dark winter time, an oil-lamp, fed with fish blubber,
burns day and night. It is therefore scarcely to be wondered
at that occasionally whole crews fall sick and die of scurvy.
The business of a trapper begins with the hunting of the
reindeer. From St John's Day to that of SS. Cosmo and
Damian (27 September), they strive to lay in a large store
of reindeer-flesh; the fat and hides are the property of the
owner of the ship, but the flesh forms their winter food.
From SS. Cosmo and Damian's Day to the Purification of
the Virgin the sun never shines in Spitsbergen.
"It will now be asked how the trappers employ them-
selves during the winter. Can you picture to yourselves
pale, emaciated men, with dull, unillumined eyes, sitting in
a damp barrack, lighted by an oil-lamp ? Such are Arch-
angel trappers in Spitsbergen during the long, dark night of
winter. Like automata, each one ties a rope into an endless
number of knots, and again unties it, and thus, now tying
the knots, now undoing them again, spends nearly half the
winter. At first sight, this pastime must seem strange,
even ludicrous, but for the trappers it is a serious occupa-
tion. Transported to the neighbourhood of the North Pole,
about 330 miles away, not only from home, but from terra
fir ma (that is to say the North Cape), they all suffer more
or less, in summer as well as in winter, from scurvy 1 . Ac-
cording to the reports of the trappers, the climate of Spits-
bergen develops this sickness in an incredible way. There
is a saying that, ' When one sleeps soundly twice succes-
1 Russian peasants did not take scurvy so easily as men from Europe, be-
cause their normal food was better adapted to resist it. The nature of their
food at this time, its method of preparation, and its antiscorbutic properties are
described by Dr Matthew Guthrie of St Petersburg in Philosophical Transac-
tions, Vol. 68 (1778), pp. 622 et seq.
C. CH. xix. 16
242 Russian Trappers
sively, scurvy is present' It is further said that on this
island man is overcome with an irresistible inclination to
sleep ; so in order to counteract this tendency, the trappers
tie ropes in knots, and then undo them again. They un-
pick the sheep's-wool patches of the halfskins, and then sew
them together again. They are very particular that this
is done continuously and without intermission. Only five
hours out of the twenty-four are devoted to sleep in Spits-
bergen. This accounts for the apparently purposeless
occupation just described.
"Five years ago a story was told from Denmark to
Archangel, that in one encampment the bodies of eighteen
men had been found, disfigured by scurvy and stiffened
with cold. In Spitsbergen this is no rare occurrence. The
old trappers relate that scurvy goes about there visibly,
that is, in human form. It is an old woman, the eldest
daughter of King Herod. She has eleven sisters, some of
whom concern themselves with spreading scurvy over the
island, whilst the others entice away the hunters in order
eventually to lead them to destruction. The old woman
and her sisters often appear to the men in stormy weather,
when the wind whistles through the rocky mountains of
Spitsbergen. They are seen then illumined by the pale
glow of the Northern-lights, in which the eddying snow
whirls through the air. They are heard chanting an awe-
inspiring song, ' Here are no Church hymns, no ringing of
bells. Here all is ours.'
"According to the assertions of the trappers, the sisters
of the old woman are of dazzling beauty. They often
assume the form of the women dear to the trappers— their
wives or betrothed ones, left behind on the Dwina — and
appear to them in that form in their sleep. The enraptured
hunter, wishful to prolong the sweet vision, withdraws from
his comrades into the interior of the country and sleeps,
lulled by delightful dreams. This, it is said, is the be-
ginning of scurvy. The hunter's mates, observing his
frequent absence and strange lethargy, do their best to
re-arouse his relaxed energies, to which end they employ
very strange means. They bind the sufferer firmly by his
hands to the middle of a stake of a suitable length, which
is grasped at each end by four sturdy Mujiks, and pulled
Herod 's Daughters 243
along by them at a running pace. The unfortunate patient,
to avoid being dragged along the ground, is compelled to
move his swollen legs with a tremendous effort. For an
hour's sweet sleep he is ready to offer all he has in the
world. He utters a cry of pain, and implores his tor-
mentors to kill him outright, instead of torturing him to
death. However, after two or three turns tied to the stake,
he begins to feel better, and no longer begs his comrades to
kill him, but entreats them to persevere with their efforts to
restore him. Sometimes they take the sufferer to a high
cliff, and hurl him thence into the snow. The unfortunate
man only extricates himself from the deep snow by a great
effort, but after three or four neck-breaking falls of this
sort, he is on the way to recovery.
"On the conclusion of the hunt, the trappers assemble
at the Isbuschka, to hand over their booty to the skipper.
When they have settled their account with him, they go to
the southern shore, to gaze in the direction of home, and to
pass the time gossiping. Their speech becomes fitful be-
cause of the sound of a song which seems to come across
the ocean. They look at each other with surprise ; but,
before they have recovered from their astonishment, there
suddenly flies past, close to them, a large twelve-oared
shallop, which they distinctly recognise as the flight of
the terrible old woman, who, with rudder in hand, sits
in the stern of the shallop. Her sisters stand by her
side, rowing merrily, and so beautifully clad and so lovely
that one would fain leap from the shore into the boat to
them. ' I will shoot the old woman. My gun is doubly
charged. What do you say to that, skipper ? ' calls out one
of the hunters, but, whilst looking round for the shallop, he
dropped his gun. The lock struck the ice, and was broken.
To so great an extent had the beauty of the rowing maidens
disturbed the minds of the hunters. 'Push off, sisters,' said
the old woman, ' here are tobacco and sour cranberries '
(a recognised antiscorbutic), 'here we have nothing to seek.'
And the shallop disappeared.
' We may be allowed to relate another story about these
witch- sisters that can be heard from many an old trapper.
' Forty versts east of the principal encampment stands a
wretched hut, knocked together out of planks, and shaken
ch. xix. 16—2
244 Russian Trappers
by every gust of wind. In this hut were two trappers, the
elder of whom, in the last stage of this island's peculiar
sickness, prepared himself for death, and whispered his con-
fession to his companion, a youth barely twenty years of
age, urgently beseeching him to bury him, when the end
arrived, with prayers, and on his return home to have a
mass said for him. For the trappers who die in Spits-
bergen, Novja Zemblja, and other uninhabited islands of the
ocean, never omit, if no priest is present, to confess, before
death, to a comrade. Even when no one is with the dying
man he confesses his sins to the earth. ' Mother, moist
Earth, I have sinned in this and in that before God.
Receive my sinful body into thy keeping.'
"The night passed. In the early morning the youth
carried the blue, swollen corpse of his comrade out of the
Isba and buried it by scraping the earth aside. After the
burial, he returned to the hut, and lighted the Jirnik.
Alone in the Isba, fear came over him. How should he
drive away evil thoughts ? Fortunately he possessed the
art of playing the violin. He extinguished the Jirnik, laid
down on the bed, and began to play and sing. Hardly had
the last sounds of his song died away, when he heard in the
hut stamping as in a dance, the clapping of hands, and
laughter, but such beautiful, childish laughter, that the youth
let his bow fall from his hand, and his heart stood still.
The dance continued, and the laughter sounded ever louder
and louder. Composing himself, he struck a light, but
hardly had the sparks come from the tinder, when the
dance and laughter stopped. He found himself once more
alone in the Isba, whilst the storm howled through the
waste of snow, and the dismal feeling of loneliness preyed'
upon him more than ever. 'Very likely,' thought he,
' Death is now looking in at the window, and beckoning to
me.' In order to regain courage, he once more seized his
violin, but first placed some fire in the birchwood Tujes, a
round vessel with a wooden bottom and lid. ' As soon as I
hear anything,' thought he, ' I will raise the lid, and the
stranger shall not escape me again.' Then he commenced
singing once more, and again he heard the dancing, hand-
clapping, and such bewitching laughter that he no longer
waited, but quickly raised the lid of the Tujes, and — before-
The JVitch Wife 245
him stood a maiden with sparkling eyes. The maiden
looked shyly at him, but the youth trembled all over. He
could not look away from those eyes, which sparkled like
diamonds. The maiden dropped her head bashfully, and
her long fair hair fell over her face. The hunter recovered
himself at last. ' Do not be alarmed, fair charmer,' said he,
'only once will I look into your eyes, even if it should
prove my death.'
" Encouraged by these words of the youth, the beautiful
maiden raised her head, and looked fixedly at him. ' Be it
as you will,' said she, 'since you have once looked on me,
you can compel me to remain always with you. Neither
will it be harmful for you to live with me, only you must
never leave me, and never go away from here, otherwise
misfortune will overtake you. I am powerful, and shall
never let you leave me.' Either she was the good sister of
the old woman, or the youth had pleased her. She tended
him carefully, and guarded him against scurvy and every
danger. When he went out hunting, she sent so many
stone-foxes into his traps that he could hardly drag them
back to the hut. If he wanted spirits to drink, before he
had expressed the wish, there stood in the Isba a barrel of
rum. In short, he had everything that his heart desired —
enough to eat, enough to drink, a life without work, and,
added to this, a beloved one whose like he could not have
found in the whole wide world. But in spite of this, the
hunter was drawn in thought over the sea to Russia, to
his native shores. The longer he lived with the beautiful
stranger, the more she became a burden to him. At last he
began to fear her, whilst she always became more loving
and more tender, and would not let him go from her side.
" One day she came running into the Isba more quickly
than usual. 'Rejoice, Wasilji,' said she, 'we shall soon
have a son. Do not leave me, dearest. You have become
melancholy. You turn away from me, and do not listen to
me. But I am always the same.' ' Listen, beloved one,'
began Wasilji, 'when I first saw you I thought to live with
you for ever, but now — I am drawn away to Russia.'
One day, when the wind blew strongly from the north, the
sailors hastened to fill the Lodja with furs, blubber, eider-
down, and the like. The Lodja was loaded, and the sails
CH. XIX.
246 Russian Trappers
were hoisted, and like an arrow she flew towards the North
Cape. They had hardly gone ten versts from the Island
when the crew suddenly heard such a piercing cry, that it
deafened the storm of wind in the sails. They then saw
something flying through the air on to the Lodja. It fell
beside the helm of the Lodja, and was recognised as the
child of Wasilji and the sister of the terrible old woman."
The old woman was responsible for many a terrible
tragedy during the long Spitsbergen winters. Here is a
story which was told to Mr Lamont by one of his crew, but
he does not state the year in which it happened 1 .
" During the summer of the year in question, a pro-
digious quantity of heavy drift-ice surrounded Whales Point
and all the southern coast of East Spitsbergen. The men
belonging to the Russian establishment had all come in
from the various outposts, and were assembled at the head-
quarters, waiting to be relieved by the annual vessel from
Archangel. By a concurrence of bad fortune this vessel
was lost on her voyage over, and was never heard of again.
The crews of the other vessels in Spitsbergen knew nothing
of these men or, if they did, they naturally supposed that
the care of relieving them might safely be left to their own
vessel, as nothing was yet known of her loss either there or
at Archangel. The ice in the summer months prevented
any vessel from accidentally approaching Whale-fish Point ;
and no one went near it until the end of August, when
a party of Norwegians, who had lost their own vessel,
travelled along the shore to seek for assistance from the
Russian establishment ; but on reaching the hut they were
horrified to find its inmates all dead. Fourteen of the un-
happy men had recently been buried in shallow graves in
front of the huts, two lay dead just outside the threshold,
and the remaining two were lying dead inside, one on the
floor and the other in bed. The latter was the superin-
tendent, who had been able to read and write ; and a
journal lying beside him contained a record of their sad
fate.
"It appeared that early in the season scurvy of a
1 Lamont, Arctic Seas, p. 344. I suspect that this story really relates to the
events in Red Bay in the winter of 1851-52, but I quote it as it was written, for
the sake of the excellent telling of the tale.
A Winter Tragedy 247
malignant character had attacked them ; some had died at
the out-stations, and the survivors had with difficulty
assembled at the head-quarters station and were in hopes
of being speedily relieved by the vessel ; but, the latter
not arriving, their stores got exhausted, and the unusual
quantity of ice surrounding the coast prevented them from
getting seals or wild fowl on the sea or the shore. In
addition to scurvy they had now the horrors of hunger to
contend with ; and they gradually died one after another,
and were buried by their surviving companions, until at last
only four remained. Then two more died, and the other
two, not having strength to bury them, dragged their bodies
outside the hut to await their own fate ; and, when one of
them died, the last man — the writer of the journal — had
only sufficient strength remaining to push his dead com-
panion out of the bed on to the floor, and he soon after
expired himself, only a few days before the Norwegian
party arrived. The Russians had a large pinnace in the
harbour and several small boats on shore, but the ice at
first prevented them from reaching the open sea, and
latterly, when the ice opened out, those who survived so
long were too weak to make use of the boats. The
shipwrecked Norwegians took advantage of the pinnace to
effect their own escape to Hammerfest, carrying with them
the poor superintendent's journal, which the Russian consul
at that port transmitted to Archangel."
Another terrible winterers' tale is related by Scoresby 1 :
"In the year 1 77 1, Mr Steward, of Whitby, formerly a
Greenland captain, landed on a projection of low table-land,
forming the S.W. point of King's Bay, for the purpose of
procuring drift-wood for fuel Here the first wintering
of the Russians, to the northward of the Foreland, had
been attempted, their first hut having been built the pre-
ceding year (1770). This hut having been seen by the
party in search of wood, on their first landing, motives of
curiosity led them to examine it. They hallooed as they
approached it ; but no one appeared. The door being
defended by a small open court, one of the party entered it ;
and, applying his eye to the hole for the latch, observed
a man extended on the floor, as he thought, sleeping.
1 Arctic Regions, I. 145.
CH. XIX.
248 Russian Trappers
Receiving no answer to their shouts, they at length opened
the door and found the man a corpse. His cheek, which
was laid on the ground, was covered with a green concre-
tion of mould ; and his covering, besides his clothes, was
only a Russian mat. Several jackets and other articles of
clothing were seen on a bench, on which the inmates
appeared to have slept ; but no other individual, living or
dead, was observed. It was supposed that his companions
had shared the same fate, and had been buried by him,
who, as the last survivor, had no one to perform the same
kindly office on himself. The yawl belonging to the
sufferers was found hauled up on the beach ; it was fully
equipped with oars, together with mast and sail."
Scoresby gives the following description of a hut on the
north-west point of Prince Charles Foreland, which he
visited in the year 1809 1 . He says it was the most com-
fortable Russian hut he saw in Spitsbergen.
" It was built of logs of half round timber, the original
trees being slit up the middle : the round sides were put
outwards, and the ends of the timbers, forming two adjoin-
ing sides, stretched beyond the corner, and, being notched
half way into each other, formed a close joint. The logs
were placed horizontally, and were built into a rectangular
form, about 14 ft. long, 10 broad, and 6 high. The seams
were caulked with moss. Near the ground were two
windows, of six panes of glass each, one on the east side,
the other on the south. The roof, which was flat, was
formed of deals and loaded with stones. A barrel without
ends composed the chimney. To the north end of the
building was attached a small square court, open at the top,
having a doorway on the east side of it, communicating with
and affording some shelter to the door of the hut." From
the condition of the interior, which was stocked with
utensils and food, including twenty ducks in a state of
putrefaction, it was concluded that the " hut had been
occupied by some Russian hunters, who, from the quantity
of provisions left behind, seemed to have either perished
prematurely, or had some intention of returning." As this
hut was smaller than the usual head-quarters establishment,
it was probably an out-station of the King's Bay or Cross
1 Arctic Regions, I. 141.
Bacstroms Account 249
Bay head-quarters ; but it was much more solidly built than
most out-stations of which we have record.
The Russian head-quarters on the east shore of Mauritius
or Dutch Bay 1 were visited by Bacstrom in 1780, and found
in full occupation'-'.
" The hut consisted of two large rooms, each about
30 feet square, but so low that I touched the ceiling with
my fur cap. In the middle of the front room was a circular
erection of brickwork, which served as an oven to bake
their bread, and bake or boil their meat, and at the same
time performed the office of a stove to warm the room.
The fuel employed was wood, which drives on shore plenti-
fully in whole trees stripped of their branches. A chimney
carried the smoke out of the roof of the hut ; but, when
they wished it, they could, by means of a flue, convey the
smoke into the back room, for the purpose of smoking and
curing their reindeer flesh and tongues, bears' hams, etc.
Round three sides of the front room was raised an elevated
place of about three feet wide, covered with white bear
skins, which served for bedsteads. The captain's bed-
clothes were made of white fox skins sewed together ; the
surgeon's were the same ; the boatswain, cook, carpenter,
and the men had sheep-skins. The walls inside the room
were very smooth and white -washed ; and the ceiling was
made of stout deal boards, planed smooth and white-
washed.
" The rooms had a sufficient number of small glass
windows, of about 2 feet square, to afford light : the floor
was hard clay, perfectly smooth ; the whole hut was nearly
60 feet in length and 34 wide outside, and was constructed
of heavy beams cut square, of about 1 2 inches thick, laid
horizontally one upon the other, joined at the four corners
by a kind of dove-tailing, caulked with dry moss, and payed
over with tar and pitch, so that not a breath of air can
penetrate : the roof consisted of thin ribs laid across the
beam walls, and 3-inch deals nailed over them, so that you
could walk on the top of the house. The roof was caulked
and tarred, and perfectly tight. This is the manner of
1 Vide Passarge, Sch. Exp. p. 356.
2 In Pinkerton's Collection, Vol. 1. pp. 614-620.
CH. XIX.
250 Russian Trappers
building houses in the country in Russia, particularly about
Archangel."
Of all parts of the Spitsbergen archipelago the one
most frequently chosen by the Russian trappers was Edge
Island and the small islands adjacent to it. The favourite
spot for the head-quarters was near Whales Point, and it is
to this that Charitonow's description applies. In the early
years of the 19th century the life of the Russian winterers
in the far north appears greatly to have interested certain
people dwelling in civilized and comfortable regions. Col.
Beaufoy, as we have seen, made somewhat minute enquiries
into their mode of living, and I might quote a list of
other writers, such as Pennant, who devoted attention to
it. One such amateur was a certain Herr von Lowenigh,
burgomaster of Burtscheid, in the Rhineland. In 1827 he
was travelling in Finmark, where he met the Norwegian
geologist Keilhau. At Hammerfest they also met two
Englishmen, Dr Everest and another. All were anxious
to visit Spitsbergen, but the Englishmen cried off when
they saw the dirty little sloop they would have to sail in.
Keilhau and Lowenigh accordingly sailed together, the
former to make geological investigations, the latter to
examine a Russian hunters' establishment. They tried first
to reach Smeerenburg, in hopes there to meet Parry's expe-
dition returning from the north ; but storm and ice drove
them westward. They could not even enter Ice Sound.
At length, on the morning of September 3rd, the fog lifted
and showed them South Cape close at hand, and some of
the Thousand Islands and Hope Island with its snowy
mountain backbone very far away, but quite clear. They
sailed slowly towards the Cape, and ultimately rowed ashore
on an island in a small bay below a low cliff. On the top
of the cliff stood two high Russian crosses, which were very
old. A third lay on the ground. There was a stove on the
flat ground below them, but no hut, and the place did not
seem to have been inhabited for a long time. From South
Cape they sailed across Wybe Jans Water to Decrow's
Sound. They entered Keilhau Bay, in its north coast,
near Whales Point. Within the bay to the eastward is a
little cove admirably adapted to harbour small vessels. A
tongue of land separates Decrow's Sound from Keilhau Bay
The Edge Island Huts 251
and the cove. The Russian establishment stood on this
peninsula before a line of low cliffs.
"It consisted," writes Keilhau, "of two separate
dwelling-houses with several dependant buildings, all but
two of which were built of solid timber, very differently
from the big plank-sheds set up by the Russians on West
Spitsbergen. The biggest of the dwelling-houses was about
12 ells long, 8 broad, and 3 or 4 high. The roof was
covered with a thick layer of earth and stones, and was
almost flat. The floor of the room was the bare ground,
with a bench all round and a gangway in the midst. Low
above the bench were small windows, now without glass.
In one corner of the barrack was a big stove and in the
other a little cupboard, with the date 23 July, 1825, written
on it in chalk The door of the dwelling-house gave
access to a big porch with a plank floor. Another door led
from the porch to a long room with a carpenter's bench,
apparently a work-room. This was connected on one side
with a little raised shed, a kind of store-room, and on the
other with a bath-room, warmed by the closed side of the
barrack's stove.
"The second dwelling-house lay about 60 paces from
the first and was similar in arrangement but much smaller.
Over the entrance were inscribed these words, Si ja isba
staroverska, meaning ' This house belongs to them of the old
faith.' Both here and in the big house we found a number
of household implements, etc., such as ski, stoneware pots
and lamps, netting needles, playing-cards, a draught-board,
shoe-lasts (one for a child), and a small wooden implement
on a long handle to serve the purpose of a scratching
machine. Against the second house was a newly-built
porch, used also for a store-room. A loop-hole was con-
trived in its outer door to spy the polar bears, which pay
frequent visits to the establishment. A small hut stood
alone by itself a few paces away. It contained a stove
built of loose stones, and was the bath-room ' of them of
the old faith.' We lived in it during our stay because it
was most free of ice and had an almost perfect window.
Twenty yards from the bath-house lay a fresh-water pond,
with a plank-quay indicating the watering-place.
' Behind, between the houses and the cove, stood five
CH. XIX.
252 Russian Trappers
crosses, 5 or 6 ells high, ornamented with quite tasteful
carving, and furnished with dates and inscriptions, such as
'This Cross was set up for the orthodox Christians to
God's honour, 20 Aug. 1823'; another, 'This Cross was
set up for the orthodox Christians to God's honour by the
foreman Ivan Rogatschef in the year 1809.' One date
seemed to be 1826. These crosses are commonly set up
by the trappers at their arrival for a lucky hunting, or at
their departure for a lucky voyage home. They were no
small adornment to the place. Eight or nine old house-
sites in the neighbourhood showed that other buildings had
stood there. Some small raised mounds amongst these
sites seemed to be graves. Round about the houses lay
skeletons of bears and walrus, and many horns and bones
of reindeer. There were also some boats, timber, and a
quantity of casks. In many places in the neighbourhood
we found ruins of small outpost huts at points good for
hunting, which were daily visited by the hunters from head-
quarters. We also found numbers of traps for foxes and
bears...... A high watch-tower, built of loose stones, stood
on the highest and most free-lying point of the establish-
ment's peninsula." From this tower Keilhau had a splendid
view of the east coast of the main island.
The establishment seems to have been inhabited for the
last time about 1850, when it is said that all the hunters
died of scurvy. The place was visited and photographed
by Lamont in 1858 1 . Only the huts of "them of the old
faith" were then standing. "Some of the weapons, cook-
ing utensils, and ragged fragments of clothes and bedding,
lay scattered around. A great many skulls and bones of
bears, foxes, deer, seals and walruses also, testified to their
success as hunters. We likewise found a curious imple-
ment, like a miniature wooden rake, the use of which was a
complete enigma to me, until our pilot explained that such
contrivances were commonly used by the Russians when
they suffered from entomological annoyances."
There was a 24ft. square hut, off which "was a small
wing with a brick fireplace, evidently used as a kitchen.
Another hut was a store-house, and a third a bath-house of
a rude description." The roof of the main hut had fallen
1 Lamont, A?xtic Seas, p. 346.
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IVijde Bay Huts 253
in. "On a gentle eminence, two or three hundred yards
from the huts, they had built a sort of look-out house of
loose stones On a piece of level ground, not far from
the huts, they had kept themselves in exercise by playing a
game resembling cricket, as was evident by the bats and
rude wooden balls they had used, still lying on the mossy
ground.
"Altogether there was something inexpressibly sad and
desolate about the remains of this unfortunate establish-
ment : and by the rude Norwegian sealers the place is
regarded with a degree of superstitious awe, which, perhaps,
accounted for the huts being in such good preservation."
There is yet one more little Russian hut of which a
description has been preserved. It stood on the east shore
of the remote Wijde Bay, close to the cove called Aldert-
Dirkses Bay, where the Swedish expedition of 1861 saw it.
It stood beside a little brook that emptied into a small,
almost land-locked lagoon. The brook drained a lake,
which in its turn was fed by a stream draining a higher
lake enclosed by rocky walls. In all there are seven lakes
close together in this neighbourhood. Flowers blossomed
around them in the brief summers, and they formed a fore-
ground to beautiful views in all directions, up, down, and
across the gulf. The hut was 10 ells long, 4 broad, and
less than 3 high. Its roof was flat. Within, it was
divided into two rooms. A door in the north-west corner
led to the outer room, full of casks and boards. From this
a low door led to the inner room. There was a bench
round the walls, a small window on the south, and a stove
to the left of the door. Some implements were lying about,
and there was a notched stick that had been used as a
calendar. It showed that twenty-six weeks had been
passed. The date 1839 was carved on a bench. Evi-
dently this hut had served as a head-quarters in that year,
and not been occupied since.
There must have been a strange fascination about an
arctic hunter's life for the people of the White Sea, or it
would not have been possible to recruit them year after
year, in spite of all the tragedies, frost-bites, and narrow
escapes that they witnessed or experienced. One year
eighteen men were sent forth. Twelve of them died and
CH. XIX.
254 Russian Trappers
only six returned home after terrible experiences, yet every-
one of these six was ready to go back the first time he had
a chance. Presumably the excitement of the chase was the
great attraction. When a company had arrived in Spits-
bergen, set up their head-quarters, and established their
outposts, they began by hunting reindeer. To help them
in the chase they used " trappers' dogs," a breed developed
at Archangel. These dogs were also used to drag small
sledges 1 , and to give notice of the approach of polar bears,
which were frequently attracted to the huts by the smell
of reindeer offal, and other filth that pervaded them.
Sometimes the bears even tried to break into the huts when
the men were asleep. The bears were afraid to cross the
track of snow-shoes, but would attack an unarmed hunter,
so that a man travelling alone always took his dog with him
or carried a bundle of burning shavings. The dogs de-
lighted in reindeer hunting. " Neither cliffs nor precipices
restrain them. Barking with all their might, they pursue
the game, whilst the trapper follows on snow-shoes. It is
not an unusual event for both trapper and dogs to find
their graves in an abyss. Still oftener the dog disappears
into a cleft of the rock, in the heat of the chase, not per-
ceiving the danger. The hunter then wanders round the
icy chaos, listening to the howling of the wind in the
mountainous ravine, and believes that he hears the barking
of his dog, until he at last succeeds in once more reaching
his place of encampment, where he blames ' the Spitsbergen
Dog' for everything."
The "Spitsbergen Dog" was a mythical beast, devoutly
believed in by the Russian trappers. They said he was a
proud and malignant creature. It was to pacify him that
on their first landing they slew the male reindeer, as re-
lated above, and flung his body on to the rock named "The
Capless Lout's Head." He was said to live in the wild
ravines of Spitsbergen, accompanied always by one of the
Old Woman's sisters. Sometimes he was seen from the
shallops. He rushed like the wind over the surface of the
sea. He was as fond of drink as a trapper. When his
supply of spirits ran out he rushed away to the North Cape,
there to await the coming of the ships. Sending a violent
1 Beaufoy's Enquiries.
The Spitsbergen Dog 255
south wind against them, he shattered their masts and
wrecked the vessels. Then he towed away the floating
rum-casks to his arctic island.
Somewhere in the interior of Spitsbergen or Edge
Island the trappers knew of a large cavern. This they said
was the Dog's bath, where he bathed on Feast-days. It
was believed that the bath was heated artificially, and men
related that they had found the cave warm and the embers
still glowing. To win the goodwill of the Spitsbergen Dog
a man must go alone at the time of the new moon to a
cave in the " Capless Lout's Head." At the entrance of
the cave he must draw his knife, trace with it a circle round
him on the ground, and plunge the knife into the earth
outside the circle. He and he only would then hear a loud
barking, and, at the midnight hour, a huge black dog would
rush into the cave. The trapper, following the barking,
still audible only to him, would then be able to find and
shoot so many reindeer that it would be impossible for him
to drag them all to his hut. The dog would also drive an
innumerable quantity of foxes into the traps of a man to
whom he was propitious, would cause whole flocks of geese
to pass within easy range before the muzzle of his gun,
and would show him the well-stored nests of countless
eider-ducks.
But we must return to the ordinary avocations of the
hunters. In some places, such as Cross Road and Green
Harbour, they were provided with long nets which they
used for capturing white whales, in the event of a school
approaching their station in the open season of the year.
They also killed seals if the chance offered, but they did
not go out of their way to hunt them. As the dark days
approached they set traps for foxes, sometimes as many as
100 traps to a verst. This snaring was only practised in
the winter, when the weather was mild enough to enable
the traps to be reached without danger. Sometimes in
hard weather the traps could not be inspected for a month
or more at a time.
The north wind in winter was a dreadful trial to the
trappers. Their huts were generally placed beneath a
cliff that sheltered them from it 1 . "They say," writes
1 Pennant, Arctic Zoology, p. 147.
CH. XIX.
256 Russian Trappers
Charitonow, "that when it blows, it is impossible to go
outside of the Isba. If a hunter finds himself, at such a
time, 10 versts from his hut, nothing is left for him but to
lie down and die of cold. The stone-foxes are only caught
in calm weather, when the moon is shining, and the stars
are sparkling. In the dark period of the year, reindeer also
are shot, but in winter-time reindeer hunting is as difficult
as it is dangerous : difficult, because one must be specially
skilled to. follow them over a more or less hilly, undulating
plain in snow-shoes ; dangerous, because the eager hunter,
heated by rapid movement through the strong wind, either
lies down tired and is often frozen to death, or else falls
headlong over a mountain precipice of unexplored depth.
In the winter, therefore, reindeer hunting is rarely pursued.
It is an autumn pastime.
"It is thus seen that life, during the winter, does not
offer much variety to the trappers in Spitsbergen. Of
course they also shoot polar bears now and then, but only
when they chance to come upon them. They do not look
for these animals on the snow-covered coasts of the island,
but if one comes within range of their guns, it helps to
increase their winter's store of food. As soon as ever a ray
of sunshine shows itself on the tops of the mountains — this
happens at the time of the Feast of the Purification
(Feb. 2nd) — the trappers awake as it were from their
winter's sleep, and, after offering up a prayer, push off from
the shore in their shallop, in order to catch sea animals.
When one beholds these wretched shallops one trembles
for the hunters. A miserable boat, \\ to 2 Sajene long,
manned by 12 men, and steered by a Mujik, often proceeds
fifty versts out to sea. If a strong contrary wind blows,
the bold hunters must either perish in the waves, or be
crushed to death between the ice-floes !
" But the Spitsbergen voyagers do not allow themselves
to be so easily intimidated by dangers. When I asked a
Mujik whether it was not worth considering, that, by
venturing in a boat 50 versts and more from land, he was
risking his life, the grey-bearded old man answered me in
the usual laconic manner of the peasants of this govern-
ment, ' It would require very different waves to make the
Spitsbergeners fear the ocean.' The trappers themselves
White Whales 257
relate that the sailors sometimes find shallops near Spits-
bergen adrift at sea, with their crews frozen to death.
' What is done with them ? ' I asked. ' The bodies are
thrown into the sea, and the shallop is repaired,' was the
answer.
"On setting out, these hardy hunters provide them-
selves with a week's supply of bread, even if they only
intend staying out for a day. When the north wind blows,
they warm themselves by rowing, and relieve the skipper
in turns. In this way they sail round the bays, and shoot
many kinds of sea animals, walruses, hares (?), seals (plwca
vitulina), and others. White whales are only very occa-
sionally killed. One must be an excellent shot to hit these
animals, which come up out of the water and disappear
again in an instant. The trappers cannot take out with
them the large nets with which they are caught in other
places. Polar bears also are shot on these voyages,
although they are extraordinarily courageous in the water,
whilst on land they flee before the distant baying of the
dogs, and will not venture to cross the track of a snow-shoe.
After the first bullet wound the bear makes straight for the
shallop, and woe to the hunters if they do not get away
quickly. Putting his paws on the edge of the boat, the
bear turns it over, and then this gentleman of the polar sea
knows very well how to be ready for the trappers.
"The fur-hunters relate that a party of trappers once
brought home a load of whales' teeth, although none of the
men could boast of having killed a single whale ; but in an
inlet of the island they had found 30 whales, not long dead,
lying together in a heap. Schools of white whales thus
stranded and killed have been found more than once on the
shores of Spitsbergen even in modern times 1 ."
After a year spent in the bleak regions of the north, the
return home was a joyous event, thus described by Chari-
tonow from his own observation : " Do you see that Lodja
steering towards the harbour on the Dwina ? On the deck
stand eight Moujiks, who snap their fingers, and smack
their tongues, and whistling and laughing strike up a song.
In the fore-part of the Lodja is seen an old man with a
grey beard, who holds a cap in one hand, and stretches both
1 See Nathorst, Tva Somrar.
C. CH. XIX. 17
258 Russian Trappers
hands out over the water, not singing meanwhile, but rather
howling and roaring, interrupting the singing of the others
with impassioned voice. The crew comes from Spits-
bergen. The singing Moujiks are happy trappers. In the
middle of September they generally sail away from the
island. They are alb neatly, almost elegantly dressed.
Only one of them is conspicuous by the simplicity of his
costume. This is the skipper, who, instead of making a
show with a fine smock frock and red Norwegian belt,
keeps his money in his pocket.
" The arrival of the trappers is quickly made known in
the villages at the mouth of the Dwina. After they have
cast anchor in the harbour, and offered up a prayer of
thanksgiving, the crew, led by the skipper, hasten to the
ship's owner. This latter has flounders, salmon, and other
delicate kinds of fish brought, as well as a large cask of
brandy, and invites the voyagers to a feast, whilst his
labourers unload the lodja. The repast and the brandy
drinking last until every one of the guests is lying under
the table. After they have slept themselves sober, they
begin again, and do not stop until the cask is emptied.
When this is accomplished they go off, satisfied with having
seen the bottom of the cask. After the trappers have re-
ceived their pay from the ship-owner, they return to their
own villages, and live, as long as the money lasts, revelling.
When their money is spent they all go back to their former
work, and resume their normal activity."
The trappers were very brave men, as the people of this
country generally are. Pennant 1 records that they were
excellent marksmen. "In presenting their piece," he says,
"they do not raise it to their shoulder, but place the butt-
end between their arm and their side, fixing their eye on
the object toward which they direct the barrel." Charitonow
says that they were an honest people. " Each year a not
inconsiderable portion of the gains they bring home from
Spitsbergen is presented to the church of the parish to
which they belong. Brandy, and brandy alone is their
ruin."
The mortality amongst the trappers must have been
very great, even when scurvy did not sweep them away
1 Arctic Zoology, p. 147.
Their known Settlements 259
wholesale. Few were frozen to death, says Pennant, but
many were badly frostbitten, so as to lose their toes and
fingers. When a trapper died in Spitsbergen his body was
laid in the ground, if possible, or hidden in some cleft in a
rock. Bodies found in the snow or on the surface of the
ground were believed to be those of heretics. A trapper
told Charitonow that he had himself found such a body in a
mountain gorge. " There lay a Mujik with a red beard,
clothed in a blue smock-frock. I pressed his forehead with
the butt-end of my piece and it fell to pieces like dry
wood." In the neighbourhood of almost every Russian
hut one finds graves to the present day, but it is difficult
to distinguish between them and graves of whalers and
seamen, of which there are countless multitudes all round
the Spitsbergen coasts.
At the risk of prolixity I will here set down the geo-
graphical position of all the Russian huts on Spitsbergen,
whereof I have been able to find record, beginning on the
east side of Wybe Jans Water and going westward round
the main island.
On Anderson's Islands near Barents Land there are
traces of a settlement, as I was informed in 1896 by a Nor-
wegian who had seen them. The great settlement in Keilhau
Bay and others on neighbouring islands have been men-
tioned above 1 . Heuglin records the ruins of a Russian
head-quarters on Andree Island, where a well-preserved
bath-hut, built of blocks of hyperite, was standing in 1870 2 .
A head-quarters on Ziegler Island was visited by Lamont 3 .
Of Russian huts on the west shore of Wybe Jans Water
I can find no record, though doubtless several existed.
There was an important head-quarters on South Cape or
one of the neighbouring islands. Scoresby, Keilhau, and
Lamont saw huts there; one dated 1784. It was at this
place that in 18 18 the winterers slew no less than 1200
1 See Passarge, p. 453; Lamont's Sea-Horses, pp. 104, 105, 109; and other
authorities quoted above.
2 Heuglin, 1. p. 256.
3 Arctic Seas, p. 348. "The ruined huts still remained. There had been a
large, oblong building and two smaller ones, placed back to back. The walls,
4 ft. thick, filled in with rubble, and made tight inside with plaster and moss,
seemed very old ; the plants inside grew as luxuriantly as outside. Around
were strewn loose timbers and whales' bones." This may have been the ruin of
a Dutch or English whalers' cookery.
CH. XIX. . 17—2
260 Russian Trappers
walruses besides quantities of other beasts, an unusually
successful voyage 1 . At the entrance to Horn Sound, ap-
parently by Isbiorn Haven, was a head-quarters, whereof
well-preserved remains were seen by the Swedes in 1861
and 1 864/, as well as many skeletons. There were two
outpost huts for five men each and ruins of others in different
parts of Horn Sound. I myself saw the remains of a Russian
hut on Hofer Point in 1897 3 . There was also a settlement
on the Dun Islands.
Bell Sound was a great Russian centre 4 , and various
head-quarters were established on its shores at different
times. The most frequented situation was the west side of
Recherche Bay, four or five miles in from its mouth. On
Axel Island was another and older head-quarters. Out-
posts are recorded in Low Sound, Sardam Bay, and at the
mouth of Bell Sound, probably on Low Ness 5 .
In Ice Sound the chief settlement was at Green Harbour
and westward of it in a small valley, containing two lakes,
which is still called by the Norwegians Russekeilen. Here
Starashchin died. A little cove close to Green Harbour
was a great place for catching white whales. In many parts
of Ice Sound the remains of huts are still visible. In 1896
we found traces of a hut on the low promontory between
Dickson and Ekman Bays. Another stood on Deadman
Point. Heuglin records seeing the ruins of many Russian
huts at Advent Point, as well as a Norwegian hut which
was still standing and occupied in 1870. The Tourist-hut
was built on the site of it in 1896. A few miles west of
Advent Bay, Heuglin also found many traces of a big
Russian settlement and a number of traps".
Keilhau knew of a great Russian head-quarters on the
south point of Prince Charles Foreland, where were many
great crosses and graves. Scoresby saw a hut on the
north-west point of the Foreland, as related above. There
were other huts down its east side. In 1827 some Russian
1 Keilhau, p. 236; Lamont's Sea-Horses, p. 21, etc.; Scoresby's Arctic
Regions.
a Passarge, pp. 356, 448.
3 See my book, With Ski and Sledge.
4 They called it Klanbay, or Klanbaiskaja Guba, for Klok Bay.
5 See Keilhau; also G. F. Miiller, p. 17.
6 Heuglin, I. 273, 280.
Their Huts 261
huts were still standing in St John's Bay 1 . There appears
also to have been a settlement or outpost in English Bay.
King's and Cross Bays were much frequented by Russian
trappers. Scoresby records a hut on Quad Hook. I found
the ruins of one at Coal Haven in 1897'". At Cross Road
was a great Russian head-quarters afterwards used by Nor-
wegians in 1822. In Hamburg Bay was an outpost of the
Cross Bay head-quarters. Beechey 3 also records a head-
quarters establishment there or in the neighbouring small
Basques Bay. A Russian head-quarters was set up in
Magdalena Bay about 1827, according to Keiihau ; its ruins
were seen in 1896. Beechey saw a Russian head-quarters
in Robbe Bay. Fairhaven was a favourite Russian hunting
ground for some years. The situation of the head-quarters
seems to have been on the mainland opposite Smeerenburg 4 .
It was inhabited for many seasons between 1770 and 1823.
The north coast was likewise occasionally settled on by
Russian trappers in the first half of the 19th century. A
great tragedy happened to a party in Red Bay in 1850-51.
Perhaps their hut was the one whose ruins were visible on
Biscayers Hook up to 1896. Beaufoy was informed that
the Russians had frequented Liefde Bay, but that they
never took their lodjes beyond it, though they went in
their shallops as far as North-east Land. On the west
shore of Liefde Bay are ruins of a large Russian establishment.
Later, perhaps, they ventured farther east in their sloops, for
considerable-sized huts were built in Mossel Bay and Aldert
Dirkses Bay 5 , and outpost huts existed at several points in
Wijde Bay. The most remote huts I have been able to
hear of were on the Ryss Islands, and Hyperite Island in
Hinloopen Strait, on Cape Roos (standing in 1896), and at
unidentified points on the north coast of North-east Land 6 .
The foregoing account of the doings and sufferings of
the Russian trappers has been put together from a number
of scattered references and incidental statements. It has
1 Keiihau, p. 240.
- See John Laing's Voyage, and my With Ski and Sledge ; also Scoresby's
Arctic Seas, and Keiihau, p. 240.
3 p. 185. See also Keiihau, p. 242.
4 See Bacstrom, quoted above; Passarge, p. 356; Beechey, p. 185; and
Keiihau, p. 243.
5 See above, and Passarge, p. 356.
G Passarge, p. 356. See also my First Crossing of Spitsbergen.
CH. XIX.
262 Russian Trappers
been impossible to write a connected history of the growth
and decline of this strange industry, owing to lack of
materials for it. Perhaps a Russian student may some day
unearth records preserved in the archives of the Monastery
of Solovetskoi or some town of the White Sea, which may
enable him to call back to life the strange actors in these
arctic dramas, whose figures flit so vaguely across our vision
in the long polar nights. The best that I could do was to
compile the foregoing general account of the trapping in-
dustry, and now to complete it with brief mention, in their
chronological sequence, of such events as we know to have
happened in Spitsbergen to the Russian huntsmen and their
Norwegian rivals and successors.
CHAPTER XX.
TSCHITSCHAGOFS EXPEDITIONS.
After the return of the castaways in 1743- 1749 we
hear absolutely nothing of the Russians in Spitsbergen till
1 764. The expeditions doubtless succeeded one another
but neither successful nor tragic issue of any is recorded.
In 1764, however, Empress Catharine II of Russia sanc-
tioned the despatch of an arctic expedition. For years
Russian statesmen had been conscious of the importance of
finding a sea-route to the far east, if it were possible. The
North-east passage, however, seemed always to be blocked,
so that it was now determined to try whether an open route
might not be discoverable yet further north, by way of
Greenland or Spitsbergen. It is worth notice that the
various arctic expeditions sent out by different countries or
societies have been different in character, according to the
special industries or occupations of the sending countries
or societies. This Russian expedition had to some extent
the characteristics of a White Sea trappers' journey. The
English expedition of Phipps was a kind of glorified whaling
voyage under naval auspices, with the whale-hunting left
out. The Swedish expeditions of the 19th century re-
sembled the voyages of Scandinavian summer-season hunters
in their sloops. Dr Nansen's arctic journeys were con-
ditioned by the use of ski and were based on the ski-running
sports of the Norwegian wintertide. My own explorations
of the interior of Spitsbergen were the outcome of Alpine
climbing and were in the nature of mountain and glacier
explorations.
Those responsible for organising the Russian polar
expeditions of 1765 and 1766 deemed it well to provide the
CH. XX.
264 Tschitschagof
ships with an arctic base, well stored with all manner of
supplies 1 . Accordingly in 1764 Lieut. Michael Nemtinof
and others were sent off in five small vessels to convey ten
wooden huts to Spitsbergen and there set them up and fill
them with stores. The huts were planted on the right
hand of the entry into Recherche Bay ; how far in we are
not told. At that time Recherche Bay was not a hunter's
station. The nearest huts are stated to have been 20 miles
distant. Possibly Axel Island is meant, though that is only
1 1 miles from Recherche Bay. Axel Island is known to
have been the first Russian head-quarters site in Bell
Sound, and was probably exchanged for Recherche Bay
after this expedition. Nemtinof reached Bell Sound on
August 5th, and built five dwelling-houses, each consisting
of two rooms, an outer and an inner. He also built bath-
houses and store-houses. He sailed away on August 21st,
leaving Moisei Ryadin and 16 men behind to winter. No-
thing is said about any scientific observations to be made by
them, nor is it easy to assign a reason for their having been
left, unless it was to make a Government settlement for the
purpose of asserting Russian sovereignty over Spitsbergen,
or perhaps to examine the suitability of Spitsbergen for
Samoyede colonisation.
The main Russian expedition sailed in May, 1765. It
consisted of three new ships, specially built at Archangel
under the direction of an Englishman. They were two-
masted, and adapted to be rowed if necessity arose. They
were named Tschitschagof, Panof, and Babojef, after their
respective captains. Tschitschagof was in general command.
Following the directions of a chart drawn by Nemtinof,
they reached Bell Sound on June 16th. Ryadin at once
came on board from the settlement with news that all the
winterers were well, though some had been sick. After
more than a fortnight had been spent at Bell Sound the
ships sailed on July 3rd to pursue their mission to the north-
ward. They accomplished nothing of importance. They
sailed to and fro amongst drift ice, sometimes in sight of
land, sometimes not. This kind of work soon tired them.
On the 6th of August they were back again at Archangel.
1 There is a short, clear account of this expedition in William Coxe's Russian
Discoveries, 4th edn., London, 1804, 8vo, pp. 398 et seq.
His second Expedition 265
Next year, 1766, Tschitschagof was again sent to the
arctic regions. He sailed on May 19th and reached Bell
Sound on June 21st. Firing a gun to inform the winterers
of his arrival he received no answer. Ryadin and his
surviving companions were away on a hunting trip to the
Dun Islands. Eight graves contained the bodies of the
rest. Three days later Ryadin returned. He said that all
the company had suffered from scurvy. The lazy men died
and the active ones recovered. They had received help
from the trappers, whose encampment lay 30 versts (20
miles) away. The trappers were 12 in number and came
from Danilowa Pustynja. The officer, Bornewolokof, was
sent to visit them on the 26th and came back on the 27th.
On the 30th Tschitschagof sailed for the north. He was
away a month, during which time he reached only 8o° 28',
a few leagues north of Cloven Cliff. He found the ice
packed fast against Grey Hook and so returned. If he had
waited longer he would have found better conditions ; for
an English whaling skipper named Robinson took his
vessel, the Reading, so far to the north of Hakluyt's Head-
land in open sea, that with a fair wind and sailing due south,
it took him 24 hours to reach the headland. By dead
reckoning he concluded that he had been in latitude
82 30' N. 1
On July 31st Tschitschagof was in Bell Sound again.
He took Ryadin and his companions off, and embarked all
the remaining stores that were in good condition. He
measured the height of Observatory Hill (1896 ft.). He
noticed the frequent calving of the great glacier. On
August 7th he sailed for home, leaving three dwelling-huts,
one bath-house, and one store-house standing. These huts
were probably used by trappers in after-years.
Half a century of hunting in the southern and western
parts of Spitsbergen had probably begun to frighten away
the beasts, and the necessity of opening new ground was
felt. Thus the Russians gradually crept to the north and
then eastward along the north coast till the supply of animals
was reduced beyond the paying point. In the winter of
lyjo-yi, as already stated, Russian trappers settled for
the first time north of the Foreland. Thev built their head-
j
1 Daines Barrington's North Pole.
CH. XX.
266 Rtissiau Trappers
quarters in King's Bay. All members of the expedition
died. In the winter of 1772-73 another Russian party
wintered somewhere near the Foreland. Phipps' expedition
heard that they were 15 in number and that 10 died. The
Old Woman and her Sisters were busy in those days.
The record of a great misfortune in 1774 reveals that
the hunting of seals was an industry vigorously pursued in
the arctic seas at that time. No less than 54 ships were
fitted out for it this year alone. Most of them sailed from
Hamburg, but several were English. Jan Mayen was about
the centre of the best sealing waters then, but the seals
were also killed in great numbers near the Spitsbergen
coasts. A violent storm overtook the sealing fleet this year
at the borders of the ice about 60 miles east of Jan Mayen.
Many ships were wrecked and some 400 foreign and 200
British seamen lost their lives 1 .
In 1779 the Russian trappers were in occupation of Fair-
haven. Next year their head-quarters, opposite Smeeren-
burg, were visited by Bacstrom, whose description of the
building has been quoted above. He was surgeon on board
the whaler, Rising Sun, which was anchored off Smeeren-
burg in July. Bacstrom and Captain Souter with a dozen
sailors rowed away one fine day to see the Russians, for
whom they took a nice lot of presents.
"We landed at the bottom of the harbour to the east-
ward," he writes, "where we found a large valley, several
miles in breadth, surrounded with immense high mountains,
mostly covered with snow ; but as the sun had melted a part,
the brown and black rock appeared, and rivulets of clear
water ran down, forming little waterfalls. We crossed a
piece of ground where the Dutch had formerly buried their
dead; three or four of the coffins were open, with human
skeletons lying in them. Some inscriptions on boards, of
which above 20 were erected over the graves, had the years
1630, 1640, etc., affixed to them. We also saw the ruins of
some brickwork, which had been a furnace." The place
where they landed and where these ruins were found was
the south-east angle of Mauritius or Dutch Bay. From
this point "we had above six miles to walk to the north-
ward, and were very much fatigued on account of the un-
1 Scoresby, Arctic Regions, 1. 513.
Bacstroni s Account 267
evenness of the ground and the heat, when we discovered
the hut of the Russians at a distance. They perceived our
approach, and sent two or three people to meet and welcome
us. The common men made a strange appearance; they
looked very much like some Jews in Rag-fair or Rosemary
Lane. They wore long beards, fur caps on their heads,
brown sheep-skin jackets with the wool outside, boots, and
long knives at their sides by way of hangers."
They were kindly received by the Russians, to whom
they offered presents of gunpowder, cheese, etc., and from
whom they received white fox skins, and smoked reindeer
tongues and ribs — most excellent eating. They had a feast,
drank healths, and enjoyed themselves. The Russian and
English surgeons had a race on ski. They ran six or seven
miles in an hour without fatiguing themselves.
"Before we left our Russian host, he informed us that,
a few weeks before, they had, on coming home from a
shooting party, found an English captain and nine or ten
men overhauling their property in the hut. The captain,
finding that his chest had been broken open, and that his
roubles were diminished considerably, reproached the Eng-
lish commander with the robbery, and a battle ensued. 'The
English fired upon us,' said the surgeon, who acted all along
as interpreter, 'and killed one of our men on the spot. We
returned the fire and wounded some of his men, and caused
them to retreat precipitately. When the English had gone,
our captain counted his roubles, and found that there were
600 missing.' He intended to send a statement of the
affair to the Russian Government. After having stayed
above 12 hours with the Russians, highly entertained, we
invited them to come to see us on board, and took our
leave, returning the same way by the compass, and ar-
rived safe on board, after having been absent almost 18
hours."
A difficulty arising out of this account is to identify
the position of the hut. At first this seems easy. They
landed in the S.E. corner of Mauritius Bay at the
mouth of a wide valley and then walked N. {i.e. along
the shore) for over six miles to the hut, which must thus
have been situated almost opposite Smeerenburg, as Keilhau
also thought and as others record. It must have been on
CH. xx.
268 Russian Trappers
the mainland, for it is impossible to walk six miles north
from any point on the shore of any of the Fairhaven
Islands. But as they apparently were anchored near
Smeerenburg, why did they row to the bottom of the bay
and then walk back six miles N. instead of rowing straight
to the hut ? They returned by the way they had come.
If that was straight along the shore, why did they require
to guide themselves by a compass in quite clear weather ?
They would not need a compass to guide their boat in
Mauritius Bay, which is surrounded by land, all points being
easy to identify. If it be suggested that the Russian hut
was six miles inland the answer is that that is impossible, as
all Russian head-quarters had to be close to a good anchor-
age for a lodja.
During the remainder of the 18th century our informa-
tion about the Russians is most meagre. A hut at South
Cape, seen by Scoresby in 1816, bore the date 1784, which
accounts for one wintering. Keilhau and Lowenigh record
that in 1795 a small expedition was sent to Spitsbergen by
a Hammerfest merchant in partnership with a Russian.
They hunted and fished, and apparently wintered. This
is the first wintering in which Norwegians are known to
have taken part. Russian trappers were seen by Scoresby
in King's Bay in 1806. They visited his ship, and Surgeon
John Laing records that "during the time they were on
board, and particularly while at meat, they behaved with a
decorum and gentleness which could hardly be expected
from their grotesque appearance."
The record of the trappers is again a blank till 181 8, in
which year the English ships Dorothea and Trent, com-
manded by Buchan and Franklin, when in Magdalena Bay
were boarded by Russians from Hamburger Bay. An officer
of the Dorothea went back with them to see their establish-
ment. " They had here a comfortable wooden hut, well
lined with moss, divided into three compartments ; in one
of which there were three carcasses of fine venison and many
wild ducks. ..This is one of the few remaining establishments
at Spitsbergen still upheld by the merchants of Archangel ;
who, during the last century, and under the auspices of the
Russian Government, formed a settlement in Bell Sound
upon this coast, and who still send annually a small vessel
Crowe s Establishment 269
to bring home the peltry and sea-horse teeth that have been
collected by their servants during the year 1 ."
In this same year 18 18, or in 18 19, a party of Russians,
who intended to winter at Ice Sound or Bell Sound, were
prevented by ice from arriving at those stations. They
settled at South Cape instead and made the great slaughter
of walruses already recorded above. The Russians were
as yet far from thinking of abandoning Spitsbergen. Indeed
a Russian naval officer in this very year 18 19 reported that
seal and bear hunting at Spitsbergen had of late paid
better than at Novaja Zemlja, owing to the ice conditions
that had prevailed".
An Englishman, named Crowe, who was British Vice-
consul at Hammerfest, had a mercantile establishment there,
and traded in arctic produce. Crowe was the real founder
of the Norwegian hunting industry in Spitsbergen, which is
still maintained, though with steadily decreasing profit. In
1819 Crowe sent a sloop with eleven men to make trial of
the hunting at Bear Island and Spitsbergen. They visited
the south bays of the west coast and brought back a good
account of the walrus and reindeer hunting and of the eider-
down that might be collected. The expedition was re-
peated in 1820, under the leadership of a tailor named
Fallengriin, who seems to have been a well-known character
at Hammerfest 3 . It was this expedition, I believe, that
revealed a tragedy which happened to a party of Russian
trappers, who had passed the previous winter in Horn Sound.
The Norwegians found a stranded lodje on the beach
near the huts, but no men about. On landing they were
horrified to discover ten corpses lying in a big box in which
they had been buried. "The bears had dug them out again.
1 Beechey, p. 59. See also Coxe's Russian Discoveries.
2 See Malte-Brun.
3 Sir A. de C. Brooke, who spent part of the winter of 1820-21 at Hammer-
fest, describes Crowe as a young English merchant living at Fugleness, opposite
Hammerfest, where he had recently settled to trade. He had established a
settlement at Bear Island on the plan of the Hudson's Bay Company. En-
couraged by that he had since despatched 30 persons and a leader to three
different parts of Spitsbergen, where houses had been previously erected — Horn
Sound, Ice Sound, and Smeerenburg Bay. In the autumn of 1820 Mr Colquhoun
had recently returned from an expedition to the Spitsbergen coasts to try the
power of the Congreve rocket against finner whales {A Winter in Lapland and
Sweden, London, 1827, 4to, pp. 130 et sea. See also Keilhau, pp. 233 etseg., and
Lowenigh).
CH. XX.
270 A Spitsbergen Tragedy
Two more bodies were covered by a mat. Of them little
was left. In the hut lay a corpse half devoured by foxes.
Scattered bones were all about. Some circumstances
seemed to indicate that that unlucky expedition had been
ready to go home when it was fallen upon and plundered
by freebooters 1 ." Such was the story as told to Keilhau
in 1827. In 1861 the Swedish expedition saw the remains
of the hut well-preserved. The expedition of 1864 found
nine skulls lying about. By that time the legend had
grown and it was asserted that the freebooters were an
English crew which had never been brought to justice 2 .
In 1896 a Hammerfest ice-master told me what was
probably a yet further development of the same tale. I
wrote it down from his lips. "The story," he said, "is
written down and printed. It is well known in Hammerfest
and Tromso. I once read it and have often heard it told,
but I do not now remember all the details. It was, at all
events, to this effect. There was at Hammerfest a skipper
named Andersen, by birth a Dane, but regularly settled in
Hammerfest. This year — it may have been fifty years
ago, or more — he sailed with his sloop in the spring, and
came in June to the Dun Islands. Now the Russians had
been very successful in their winter trappings and they had
a great quantity of skins, which Andersen saw and coveted.
He thought it would be cheaper to take them than to buy
them, so he just killed the Russians, who were weak, and
took their stuff away. He killed them with a harpoon on
which was his name, and, when he went off, he forgot the
harpoon and left it behind. Shortly afterwards the skipper
Stuer of Tromso came that way with his sloop, and he too
landed on the Dun Islands and found the bodies of the
murdered Russians, and in one of them Andersen's harpoon
sticking, so he knew what had happened. He sailed away
and met Andersen's sloop, and went on board and talked
with Andersen, who suspected that Stuer had found him
out, though nothing was said. At all events, Andersen was
afraid, and considered how he might be rid of Stuer.
" They sailed on, hunting along the edge of the ice-pack,
and one day, when they were very far from land and Stuer
1 Keilhau, p. 237.
2 Passarge, pp. 356, 448.
The Murderer s End 271
was away from his sloop in his walrus-boat, Andersen went
on to Stuer's sloop and managed to do it some harm, so
that presently it seemed to be sinking. Then he went
again to the sloop and rescued Stuer's wife and the people
on board and sailed away with them to Hammerfest ; for,
what with the things he had taken from the Dun Islands,
and the catch he had made, he had already a full cargo.
At Hammerfest he landed the people and his cargo and
told how Stuer's sloop had gone down, and how Stuer
himself must be lost, for he was away in his open walrus-
boat, and could not be found. Then he sailed away again
from Hammerfest to the ice.
" Meanwhile Stuer had returned to his sloop and found
her in a bad way, but he succeeded in patching her up and
brought her back to Tromso, where he met his wife. He
soon saw what Andersen must have done, so he related all
that he knew about the Russians. But vengeance was
already on Andersen's track. He took his sloop far up into
the ice, which came packing all around him so that he could
find no way out. Leaving the ship, he got on to a high
iceberg and climbed to the very topmost peak of it, for it
was tall and sharp. As he stood on the top looking all
round for a way to come out of the ice, the great iceberg
trembled and then turned right over. It flung the murderer
into the sea and sucked him under, so that he was never
seen again, and went straight to hell."
In the summer of 182 1 another Norwegian hunting
expedition was sent out from Hammerfest by Crowe. It
went for part of the season to Edge Island where three
men and a boy went off in a boat and were not seen again 1 .
In the summer of 1822 Fallengrun died in Spitsbergen.
In 1822-23 tne fi rst independent Norwegian wintering
took place. A crew of 1 6 men were sent up to Cross Road
by Bremen and Norwegian employers. They built two
wooden huts near the site which the Russians had so often
visited. The plan was that the settlement should be main-
tained for three years, the men being changed yearly.
Arrived at Cross Road, 10 men built the huts while six
went to Ice Sound to kill reindeer. In the first month they
collected a little eider-down. The walruses came in in
1 R. P. Gillies' Tales, first series, Vol. II. p. 137.
CH. XX.
272 Norwegian Hunters
August, and were hunted successfully, but the net brought
up for white whales was not used. The men kept their
health through the winter, but two lazy ones went down with
scurvy in March. They were presently cured. In June
two of Crowe's hunting sloops came in, and their own relief
sloop arrived a few days later, bringing a new crew. The
winterers presently sailed home. The new crew were less
fortunate. They considered Cross Road an unfavourable
position, so they migrated to Green Harbour and settled in
the old Russian hut, which, however, afforded them such
bad quarters that three men died. The third wintering was
accordingly abandoned by the Bremen and Norwegian
partnership. Now, however, Crowe took up the enterprise
and sent 22 men to build a hut at Green Harbour and winter
there in 1823-24. A Russian party simultaneously wintered
at Mauritius Bay and another Russian party at Bell Sound.
There were also Norwegian winterings at Bear Island
about this time.
It was, however, the Norwegian summer hunting ex-
peditions that were now developing. Five sloops went to
Spitsbergen for the season of 1824. In 1825 a forty-ton
cutter belonging to Crowe sailed as far north as Walden
Island. In the following winter 22 more Norwegians
stayed at Green Harbour. They occupied both the Nor-
wegian and the Russian huts, and they established an
out-station in an old Russian hut. The five men who
occupied this out-station remained inactive through fear of
bears and so took scurvy and died 1 .
In the summer of 1826 the number of Hammerfest
sloops that hunted round Spitsbergen increased to seven.
All this time the Russians continued to frequent the country
though I can find no records of their doings. They
apparently wintered often in the Russian valley near
Green Harbour. There in 1826 died the old Russian
foreman Starashchin, from whom Cape Starashchin at the
mouth of Ice Sound is named. Crowe, who knew him
well, stated that he had spent 39 s winters in Spitsbergen
and 15 consecutive years without once leaving the island.
1 Keilhau is the authority for all these events.
2 Keilhau says 32, and so says Lowenigh. See R. G. S. Proceed, xxm.
p. 132.
Starashchin 273
Norwegians told Sven Loven that he was a lively, ruddy
little man with white hair and of patriarchal appearance.
He was sent by the monks of Solovetskoi, who looked after
him like a father. He died of old age and was buried at
Green Harbour. The ruins of his hut were still pointed
out in 1868.
When Everest visited Hammerfest in 1827 he found
that the Spitsbergen trade was the main support of the
place. Keilhau's visit to the island in that year, and his
published account of its resources, called attention to
the Norwegian hunting industry. He records that sloops
were then fitted out from Vardo, Hammerfest, Trondhjem,
Bergen, Copenhagen, and Flensburg, but states that their
number was already beginning to decrease. Keilhau's
report stimulated the Norwegians to compete with the
Russian trappers. This competition appears to have
ultimately destroyed the Russian trade. I have heard of
a Norwegian wintering in 1833, of which an account by
Lieut. Hetting is stated to have been published. One man
was killed by falling down a mountain, but the rest came
safely through. Winterers at Bear Island in 1834 all died.
The experiences of the four Russian sailors of 1743
were almost exactly repeated in the winter of 1835-36 by
four Norwegian sailors 1 . Their ship was near the Thou-
sand Islands, in the month of September, and they were
sent off in a boat to explore a harbour. They had only
gone a mile or two when fog enveloped them and prevented
them from finding either the bay or the ship. Hearing
waves break on rocks they rowed in that direction and
landed on a small island. The fog did not lift for more
than two days. In the endeavour to find their ship they
landed on another island. At last they sighted the vessel
and were rowing towards her, when the wind sprang up and
carried her away. Afterwards they saw her once more,,
but could not come up with her and were abandoned.
Finding three huts at some point on the coast, apparently
of Edge Island, but not exactly identifiable, they decided
to winter there. They were greatly straitened for food
till they succeeded in killing some walruses. One day
1 See La Recherche, Narrative, Vol. I. p. 264; and X. Marmier, Lettres,
p. 471.
C. CH. XX. I&
274 Norwegian Winterings
when out walrus-hunting the ice packed about them. They
hauled their boat and slain walruses on to it and drifted
about for two days. They became utterly faint from cold
and exposure, and thought they would soon die, but the ice
broke up suddenly and they were able to launch their boats
and regain the huts. They made a lamp of the bottom of
a bottle, used walrus blubber for oil (like Nansen), and
cord for a wick. With nails for needles and unravelled
rope for thread they made for themselves clothes of skins.
They fashioned playing-cards out of slips of wood and
grew so excited over their games that they sometimes
came to blows.
In December the laziest of them died of scurvy. Bears
often visited their cabin. They killed several with lances.
Once they ate the liver and were all made ill by it. Violent
headaches were followed by lassitude. Finally their skins
peeled off and they recovered. In April they killed their
last bear and had thenceforward to feed on walrus. On
June 20th they saw a vessel coming their way. It was
within six miles of them on the 22nd, and their excite-
ment was great. They rowed off to it. It was a ship
from Altona. A few days later they were transferred to a
Vardo boat, which took them home. They carried their
wooden cards home with them, and told their story to Pastor
Aall of Hammerfest, who related it to Xavier Marmier.
I find a bare statement that in 1837 eighteen Russians
wintered at the South Cape and all died. Xavier Marmier
records that an equal number of Russians wintered and
died at the Thousand Islands. Possibly both accounts
refer to a single tragedy. In 1839 we know that there
was a Russian wintering at Wijde Bay, where the Swedes
found the hut in 1861 1 . Ten sloops went to the hunting in
the following summer — four from Hammerfest, two from
Bornholm, four from Copenhagen. This was considered
to show a great falling off in the summer hunting industry.
No sloops are mentioned as coming from Russia, but it
must not be assumed that none came.
About 1843 Charitonow states that the " men of the old
faith " sent up a lodja from the Danilowa Pustynja, in the
district of Kem, and "hired hunters to go to Spitsbergen
1 Passarge, p. 247.
A Lodja crushed 275
for trapping. Two or three hundred versts from the
Islands the vessel became enclosed in the ice. The crew
abandoned all hope of being saved, when, to their joy, the
huge ice-floe split apart, with a report like thunder, in
front of the ship, and a passage opened up, broad enough
for the lodja to pass down. The hunters took fresh courage.
A gentle wind from the south arose, and the lodja glided
along with swelling sails, grazing from time to time the
walls of ice which bordered the passage. Suddenly the ice
began to close again, coming nearer and nearer together,
until the passage was quite blocked. All at once the ribs
of the vessel cracked. The crew rushed forward, some to
drag away a keg of powder, others a sack of ship's biscuits.
But all had not time to save themselves. In a moment,
the great, strong lodja was crushed flat like a cardboard
box, together with the four sailors left on board. The
o
others were carried along on the ice-floe to the rocky cliffs
of Spitsbergen, and what is remarkable is, that they went
thence to the North Cape in nine days, in a shallop of
middling size, with one sail only."
We read of another Russian lodja a few years later,
which returned from Spitsbergen, short of her captain and
two sailors 1 . They said that they had had the misfortune
to lose them and no one thought more of so ordinary an
occurrence. But some years afterwards, in 1853, a Nor-
wegian hunter found the skeleton of a man lying on the
shore at Spitsbergen, and by his side a metal flint and
tinder box. He noticed that some writing was scratched
on the lid of the box, so he carried it off with him. The
writing stated that the owner, with two or three men of his
crew, had been marooned, and that his companions were
already dead of hunger. He obviously shared the same fate.
The strange diary ended with March 3. The Norwegian
sent the box to Archangel. Investigations followed. The
criminals were discovered and punished with exile to Siberia.
The last mention of Russian trappers wintering in
Spitsbergen is in the season of 1851-52 2 . In June, 185 1,
the merchant Kusnezow laded a lodja with two years' pro-
1 Passarge, p. 448.
2 Two accounts have been published. Erman's Archiv (reprinting from
the St Petersburg Journal), \o\. 13 (1854), pp. 260-265 '■> Passarge, p. 452.
CH. XX. l8—2
276 Tragedy at Red Bay
visions, and timber for a head-quarters establishment, and
sent her forth with a crew of 18 men. It was their inten-
tion to land in the south of Spitsbergen, on the so-called
Rimbow Point, which, I suppose to have been South Cape.
Their ignorant captain missed his way and ultimately landed
them at Red Bay, near the north-west corner of the island,
on July 19. They drew their lodja up on shore and set up
their barrack. The captain and three men settled in this
hut, whilst the other ten went away in boats looking for old
huts to use as outposts. They found five. One was 80
years old. These five huts were spread over a distance of
100 versts. The furthest may therefore have been one of
the huts whose ruins may still be seen on the Ryss Islands.
They stayed in the outposts for 17 weeks, hunting with
much success. On December 5th all were back at Red
Bay for the long night. With idleness, scurvy set in.
Only six men remained healthy on Dec. 20th. The
necessity of obtaining a supply of fresh meat compelled
three of these six to go and hunt. On their return only one
remained able to get about. " The groans of men in agony
filled the hut." One man died in January, three in February,
five in March, one in April, and one in May. On July 3rd
they were visited by some of the crews of two Norwegian
hunting sloops, "accustomed to go up yearly after walrus."
These men helped the six survivors to launch their lodja
and cut a canal for it through the land-ice to the open sea.
They thus returned home, but had to abandon most of their
furs in the various outpost huts. The six men who arrived
home stated that they were ready to go and winter in Spits-
bergen again whenever anyone wanted to send them. It
appears . however that no Archangel merchant cared to
adventure again in what had doubtless for some time been
a losing trade. Probably this unfortunate voyage terminated
the industry. A few years later Lamont 1 saw the ruins of
their hut on Biscayers Hook with the usual Russian crosses
standing by it. The hut was still discoverable as late as
1896, when I was up there, but the tragedy connected with
it was already forgotten by the Norwegian sailors who
accompanied me. They told a somewhat similar tale, but
associated it not with Biscayers Hook but with Keilhau
Bay in Edge Island.
1 Arctic Seas, p. 244.
CHAPTER XXI.
NATIONAL EXPEDITIONS TO SPITSBERGEN.
After the middle of the 18th century the age of
science was at hand. The horizon of the interests of
intelligent men widened. Nature in all her aspects found
an increasing number of faithful students. The attention
even of Governments was turned to, and national funds
began to be employed for, what may be called broadly,
scientific purposes. A century before, as we have seen, the
Royal Society of London had directed attention to the lack
of exact information as to the regions of the North, and
Martens in consequence published the results of his voyage.
This, however, was a premature movement. It was not till
after the middle of the 18th century that the foundations
were laid for a really scientific study of Arctic problems.
The moving spirit in England was the Hon. Daines
Barrington. He was fascinated by the idea of the North.
While other men were interested in promoting the explora-
tion of the habitable parts of the world, he fixed his attention
on the North Pole. Not that he wished to sail there him-
self. The amateur explorer had not yet arisen. He wanted
to have an expedition sent there, and an expedition in those
days meant a naval expedition. Accordingly he set himself
at work to arouse interest in polar research. He read all
old literature of Arctic voyages that he could find, especially
with reference to the attainment of high latitudes. Whaling
skippers were not very accurate talkers, and many of them
had boasted, at one time or another, of having reached
impossible latitudes. In the foregoing chapters we have
shown the inaccuracy of some of these skippers' tales.
Barrington had no such means as we possess for correcting
what he heard and read. He wrote down a list of high
CH. XXI.
278 Phipps Expedition in 1773
latitudes claimed to have been attained at different dates,
and he argued that the Pole itself could be reached by a
sailing vessel in a favourable year.
In 1775 Barrington published a memoir entitled The
Possibility of approaching the North Pole, but most of the
materials contained in it had been utilized by him in previous
years in his efforts to raise interest in the question. The
Royal Society was the body by means of which he operated.
He read several Arctic papers at its meetings. He was
finally successful in moving the Society, in the early part of
1773, to present a memorial to the King, urging the de-
sirability of sending an expedition to try how far navigation
was possible in the direction of the North Pole. The pro-
posal met with royal approbation, and two bomb-vessels,
the Racehorse and the Carcass, were selected for the cruise.
The Hon. Constantine John Phipps, afterwards Lord Mul-
grave, Captain of the Racehorse, was given the general
command. The Carcass was in the hands of Commander
Lutwidge, and Horatio Nelson, aged 14, was a midship-
man on board of her.
At a later period of his life Nelson related how, when
the expedition towards the North Pole was fitted out,
"although no boys were allowed to go in the ships (as of no
use), yet nothing could prevent my using every interest to
go with Captain Lutwidge in the Carcass ; and as I fancied
I was to fill a man's place, I begged I might be his cock-
swain ; which, finding my ardent desire for going with him,
Captain Lutwidge complied with, and has continued the
strictest friendship to this moment. Lord Mulgrave, whom
I then first knew, maintained his kindest friendship and
regard to the last moment of his life 1 ."
The Racehorse and the Carcass, having been duly fitted,
sailed from the Thames on June 2nd, the object of the expe-
dition being, as stated by Phipps himself, "to ascertain a
very interesting point in geography." No Arctic expedition
of earlier date could have been so described. Spitsbergen
was sighted on the 28th. They were off the Foreland on
July 2, and they measured the height of a peak on it and
found it to be 4509 feet. On July 4th they passed the
entrance of Magdalena Bay and had 15 sail of whalers in
1 Captain A. T. Mahan's Life of Nelson, London, 1897, Vol. I. p. 12.
At Fair haven 279
sight at once. Altogether they met a great many whalers,
both English and Dutch. Next day they encountered the
ice-pack near Hakluyt Headland and nearly ran into it in
the fog. The conditions of the ice unfortunately proved
very bad during the whole summer, and from this time
onward they were floundering about in it. Their object
was to press ever northward. It was not Spitsbergen they
were seeking, but the North Pole. The ice, however,
opposed their progress, and the highest point they were
then able to reach was 8o° 36' on July 9th. Further advance
being impossible, they ran into Fairhaven 1 on the 13th, and
cast anchor behind Vogelsang. Four English and two
Dutch whalers were in the haven. The fishery was still
a very good business at the edge of and just within the
pack, July and the first ten days of August being the best
time. Floyd describes how they landed on the different
islands and climbed the hills. Dr Irvine carried a barometer
to the top of the highest hill in the neighbourhood and
found it to measure 1250 feet. Other instruments were set
up on Deadman's Island and various observations made.
There was some surveying attempted and a wonderful chart
was produced, which is still the marvel of those who take
interest in Spitsbergen surveying, for its extraordinary
badness. Natural history collections were also made.
Phipps himself climbed a hill at Fairhaven to inspect the
ice-pack. It was doubtless the Outer Norway, so often
climbed by ice-bound navigators before and since 2 . Lamont
describes a characteristic view of the pack seen from
thence. ''Stretching from Welcome Point 3 and envelop-
ing Moffen Island, the ice appeared to be in one dense,
unbroken sheet. Streams of ice were carried hither and
thither by varying currents which prevail here. But the
main pack seemed absolutely impenetrable." The same
graphic writer visited it again on a glorious day. " The
heat was overwhelming. Not a breath of air. The un-
1 Here and afterwards the name Fairhaven was wrongly applied to the
anchorages about the Norways and Vogelsang, being no part of the original Fair-
haven of the early English whalers.
2 See a good illustration, "The Look-out from the Norways," in Lamont's
Arctic Seas, p. 266. It is reproduced in the present volume.
3 By Welcome Point Lamont means the point at the E. end of Red Beach.
Redbeach Point is its proper name.
CH. XXI.
280 PJiipps Expedition in 1773
clouded sun, blazing down, was reflected from the dazzling
snow or radiated from the rocks, and made one almost
forget latitude till the eye again rested on the great icy
expanse to the north. Intense quiet prevailed everywhere;
the wailing cries of a couple of burgomasters, and the shrill
chattering of some rotges in the cliff below, alone broke the
stillness I left the summit with a very definite picture of
the ice engraved indelibly on my brain — a picture which is
called up readily in all its clearness whenever I hear wild
talking or read vague theories on the subject of traversing
the pack to the North Pole!" That was just what Phipps
had to try to do.
After spending five days in Fairhaven he again tried to
get north, but on July 25th was no further advanced than
two miles off Moffen Island. Lutwidge sent a party to
land on it, "who found the island to be nearly of a round
form, about two miles in diameter, with a lake or large
pond of water in the middle The ground between the
sea and the pond is from half a cable's length to a quarter
of a mile broad, and the whole island covered with gravel
and small stones, without the least verdure or vegetation
of any kind. They saw only one piece of drift wood...
which had been thrown up over the high part of the land,
and lay upon the declivity towards the pond. They saw
three bears, and a number of wild ducks, geese, and other
sea-fowls, with birds' nests all over the island. There was
an inscription over the grave of a Dutchman, who was
buried there in July, 1 77 1." (Phipps, p. 53.)
On the 26th they were for a while in open water, and at
midnight between July 27th and 28th they attained their
highest northing, Lat. 8o° 37' N. Next day they were
near Low Island, and a party landed and found the beach
formed "of old timber, sand, and whale-bones"; the drift
wood was great trees torn up by the roots, others cut down,
and there was wood fashioned for use. "The island is about
seven miles long, Mat, and formed chiefly of stones from 18
to 30 inches over, many of them hexagons, and commo-
diously placed for walking on ; the middle of the island is
covered with moss, scurvy-grass, sorrel, and a few ranun-
culuses then in flower. Two reindeer were feeding on the
moss ; one we killed, and found it fat and of high flavour.
Among the Seven Islands 281
We saw a light grey-coloured fox; and a creature somewhat
larger than a weasel, with short ears, long tail, and skin
spotted white and black. The island abounds with small
snipes, similar to the jack-snipe in England. The ducks
were now hatching their eggs, and many wild geese feeding
by the water-side." On their way back to the ship they
fired at and wounded a walrus, " which dived immediately,
and brought up with it a number of others. They all joined
in an attack upon the boat, wrested an oar from one of the
men, and were with difficulty prevented from staving or
oversetting her ; but a boat from the Carcass joining ours
they dispersed." The middy in command of this boat was
Nelson.
On July 30th they were among the Seven Islands in the
ice. Lutwidge landed on Phipps Island and climbed to the
top, "whence they commanded a prospect extending to
the east and north-east, 10 or 12 leagues, over one con-
tinued plain of smooth unbroken ice, bounded only by the
horizon : they also saw land stretching to the S.E. (North-
east Land), laid down in the Dutch charts as islands. The
ships now remained beset for several days, and it was during
this time that young Nelson had his famous adventure with
the polar bear. I copy the following account from Captain
Mahan's Nelson; it is quoted by him from Nelson's "first
biographers."
" There is also an anecdote recollected by Admiral Lut-
widge, which marked the filial attention of his gallant cock-
swain. Among the gentlemen on the quarter-deck of the
Carcass, who were not rated midshipmen 1 , there was, besides
young Nelson, a daring shipmate of his, to whom he had
become attached. One night, during the mid-watch, it was
concerted between them that they should steal together from
the ship, and endeavour to obtain a bear's skin. The clear-
ness of the nights- in those high latitudes rendered the
accomplishment of this object extremely difficult : they,
however, seem to have taken advantage of the haze of an
approaching fog, and thus to have escaped unnoticed.
1 As a matter of fact they were so rated. See list of officers published by
Admiral Markham in Northward Ho.
" There were no nights at all at that time of year, but broad daylight all
the 24. hours.
CH. XXI.
282 Nelson s Bear Hunt
Nelson in high spirits led the way over the frightful chasms
in the ice, armed with a rusty musket. It was not, how-
ever, long before the adventurers were missed by those on
board ; and, as the fog had come on very thick, the anxiety
of Captain Lutwidge and his officers was very great. Be-
tween three and four in the morning the mist somewhat
dispersed, and the hunters were discovered at a considerable
distance, attacking a large bear. The signal was instantly
made for their return ; but it was in vain that Nelson's
companion urged him to obey it. He was at this time
divided by a chasm in the ice from his shaggy antagonist,
which probably saved his life; for his musket had flashed in
the pan, and their ammunition was expended. ' Never
mind,' exclaimed Horatio, 'do but let me get a blow at this
devil with the butt-end of my musket, and we shall have
him.' His companion, finding that entreaty was in vain,
regained the ship. The captain, seeing the young man's
danger, ordered a gun to be fired to terrify the enraged
animal. This had the desired effect ; but Nelson was
obliged to return without his bear, somewhat agitated with
the apprehension of the consequence of this adventure.
Captain Lutwidge, though he could not but admire so
daring a disposition, reprimanded him rather sternly for
such rashness, and for conduct so unworthy of the situation
he occupied ; and desired to know what motive he could
have for hunting a bear? Being thought by his captain
to have acted in a manner unworthy of his situation made
a deep impression on the high-minded cockswain ; who,
pouting his lip, as he was wont to do when agitated,
replied, ' Sir, I wished to kill the bear, that I might carry
its skin to my father.'"
On the 5th of August the condition of affairs seemed so
serious that Phipps began preparations for abandoning the
ships. He sent Walden, a midshipman, with two pilots to
walk 12 miles over the ice to a rocky island, named
Walden Island after him. They climbed to the top of it
and examined the pack, discovering open water to the
westward, but no good prospect. The ice conditions
growing worse and the ships driving fast towards shoal
ground and rocks, preparations were made to abandon the
vessels and betake themselves to the boats. Nelson related
Phipps Escape 283
that, "When the boats were fitting out to quit the two ships
blocked up in the ice, I exerted myself to have the com-
mand of a four-oared cutter raised upon, which was given
me, with twelve men ; and I prided myself in fancying I
could navigate her better than any other boat in the ship 1 ."
After several days of suspense, however, and much hard
work thev £ot out of the ice in safety on the 10th, and next
day came to an anchor in the harbour of Smeerenburg.
They found four Dutch ships there, for "the Dutch ships
still resort to this place for the latter season of the whale
fishery." A week later another attempt was made to
penetrate the pack north-westwards, but with no result, so
on August 22nd they sailed for home.
The expedition is not generally regarded as having been
a success, yet, except for the badness of the chart of Fair-
haven, it really accomplished good work. It discovered
the beautiful ivory gull, the fairest bird of the Arctic regions.
It made numerous observations that were very valuable
in their day. It did not penetrate to a notably high latitude,
but it went as far north as a sailing ship can expect to go in
this longitude in an ordinary year. Of course it wasted
much time at sea that might have been far more profitably
employed on the nearest land, but it was fulfilling instruc-
tions in so doing. The notable point is that this was the
first purely geographical Arctic expedition. The Russian
expedition under Tschitschagof was part of a colonizing
experiment, and was only geographical in a secondary
degree. It is clear that its commander considered his
northern explorations as of minor importance, and easily
desisted from them in face of difficulties — an accusation
that cannot be brought against Phipps. The real business
of the Russians was to establish and supply the settlement
in Bell Sound. Phipps had nothing else to do but to
explore. That is the fact to which the English expedition
of 1773 owes its importance in Arctic history. It was, in
intention, a purely scientific mission, though only one or
two professional scientific men were on board.
The next Arctic explorer who calls for special attention
in connexion with Spitsbergen is W. Scoresby. He has
been well called "the De Saussure of the Arctic regions."
1 Mahan's Nelson, Vol. I. p. 12.
CH. XXI.
284
Scoresby
He was a whaler of Whitby and the son of a whaler ;
he was also a man endowed with unusual powers of ob-
servation, who loved his work and did it ably, and who
loved the Arctic regions and took keen interest in the
scientific problems they offered for solution. Year after
year for more than a quarter of a century he pursued his
adventurous career in the northern seas, never neglecting
business in the cause of science, but always mindful of
science when business permitted. John Laing, the surgeon
of his ship, published a much-read account of Scoresby's
voyage in 1806, the year in which he sailed on May 28th
to 8i° 30' N. in 1 9 E. longitude, and visited a great part of
the Spitsbergen coast. It is recorded that in this same
year two French frigates cruised about in the whale-fishing
region during the latter part of the season and destroyed
several whalers, but they missed Scoresby's Resolution. If
attacked, she might have given a good account of herself,
for she was fitted out as a letter of marque, armed with
twelve 6-pounders, besides stern-chasers and small arms.
She had a crew of between 60 and 70 men. A good many
years before, Whitby used to send 20 vessels to the whale-
fishery, but the trade fell off till Scoresby revived it. He
does not seem to have landed very often on Spitsbergen,
but he did so in the year 18 18, when he climbed the hill
on Collins Cape (whose name had been long forgotten),
which he called Mitre Cape, or Mitra Hook. His account
of this expedition is worth quotation 1 :
In the summer of 1818 I was several times on shore on the main near
Mitre Cape, and landed once, in the same season, on the north side of King's
Bay. Being near the land on the evening of July 23, the weather beautifully
clear, and all our sails becalmed by the hills, excepting the topgallant sails,
in which we had constantly a gentle breeze, I left the ship in charge of a
principal officer, with orders to stand no nearer than into thirty fathoms water,
and with two boats and fourteen men rowed to the shore. We arrived at the
beach about ~]\ P.M., and landed on a tract of low flat ground, extending about
six miles north and south, and two or three east and west, from the east side
of which a mountain-arm takes its rise, terminating on the south with the
remarkable insulated cliff constituting Mitre Cape. This table land lies so
low that it would be overflown by the sea, were it not for a natural embank-
ment of shingle thrown up by the sea; indeed, from the seaweed and driftwood
found upon it, it seems at no very remote period to have been covered by the
tide. The shingle forming the sea-bank consists, in general, of remarkably
round pebbles ; many of them being calcareous, are prettily veined.
After advancing about half a furlong from the sea, we met with mica-slate
1 Scoresby's Arctic Regions, I. 1 18-123, 126-138.
climbs Mount Mitre 285
in nearly perpendicular strata ; and, a little farther on, with an extensive bed
of limestone in small angular fragments. Here and there we saw large ponds
of fresh water, derived from melted ice and snow ; in some places small remains
of snow ; and, lastly, near the base of the mountains, a considerable morass,
into which we sunk nearly to the knees. Some unhealthy looking mosses
appeared on this swamp; but the softest part, as well as most of the ground we
had hitherto traversed, was entirely void of vegetation. This swamp had a
moorish look, and consisted apparently of black alluvial soil, mixed with some
vegetable remains, and was curiously marked on the surface with small
polygonal ridges, from one to three yards in diameter, so combined as to
give the ground an appearance similar to that exhibited by a section of honey-
comb. An ascent of a few yards from the morass, on somewhat firmer ground,
brought us to the foot of the first mountain to the northward of the Mitre.
Here some pretty specimens of Saxifraga oppositifolia and Groenlatidica, Salix
herbacea, Draba alpina, Papaver alpina (of Mr Don), &c, and some other
plants in full flower were found on little tufts of soil and scattered about on the
ascent. The first hill rose at an inclination of 45° to the height of about
1,500 ft., and was joined on the north side to another of about twice the
elevation. We began to climb the acclivity on the most accessible side at
about 10 P.M., but from the looseness of the stones and the steepness of the
ascent we found it a most difficult undertaking. There was scarcely a possi-
bility of advancing by the common method of walking, for in this attempt
the ground gave way at every step, and no progress was made ; hence the
only method of succeeding was by the effort of leaping or running, which,
under the peculiar circumstances, could not be accomplished without excessive
fatigue. In the direction we travelled we met with angular fragments of
limestone and quartz, chiefly of one or two pounds weight, and a few naked
rocks protruding through the loose materials of which the side of the mountain,
to the extent it was visible, was principally composed. These rocks appeared
solid at a little distance, but on examination were found to be full of fractures
in every direction, so that it was with difficulty that a specimen of five or six
pounds weight, in a solid mass, could be obtained. Along the side of the first
range of hills near the summit was extended a band of ice and snow, which,
in the direct ascent, we tried in vain to surmount. By great exertion, however,
in tracing the side of the hill for about 200 yards, where it was so uncommonly
steep that at every step showers of stones were precipitated to the bottom, we
found a sort of angle of the hill free from ice by which the summit was scaled.
Here we rested until I took a few angles and bearings of the most prominent
parts of the coast, when, having collected specimens of the minerals and such
few plants as the barren ridge afforded, we proceeded on our excursion. In
our way to the principal mountain near us, we passed along a ridge of the
secondary mountains, which was so acute that I sat across it with a leg on each
side, as on horseback. One side of it made an angle with the horizon of 50 ,
and the other of 40 . To the very top it consisted of loose sharp limestones, of
a yellowish or reddish colour, smaller in size than the stones generally used for
repairing high roads, few pieces being above a pound in weight. The fracture
appeared rather fresh. After passing along this ridge about three or four
furlongs, and crossing a lodgment of ice and snow, we descended by a sort of
ravine to the side of the principal mountain, which arose with a uniformly steep
ascent, similar to that we had already surmounted, to the very summit. The
ascent was now even more difficult than before : we could make no considerable
progress but by the exertion of leaping and running, so that we were obliged
to rest after every fifty or sixty paces. No solid rock was met with, and no
earth or soil. The stones, however, were larger, appeared more decayed, and
were more uniformly covered with black lichens ; but several plants of the
saxifraga, salix, draba, cochlearia, and juncus genera, which had been met
with here and there for the first 2,000 ft. of elevation, began to disappear as
we approached the summit. The invariably broken state of the rocks appeared
CH. XXI.
286 Mount Mitre
to have been the effect of frost. On calcareous rocks, some of which are not
impervious to moisture, the effect is such as might be expected ; but how frost
can operate in this way on quartz is not so easily understood.
As we completed the arduous ascent, the sun had just reached the meridian
below the Pole, and still shed his reviving rays of unimpaired brilliancy on
a small surface of snow which capped the mountain's summit. A thermometer
placed among stones in the shade of the brow of the hill indicated a tempera-
ture as high as 37 . At the top of the first hill the temperature was 42 , and at
the foot, on the plain, 44 to 46", so that, at the very peak of the mountain,
estimated at 3,000 ft. elevation, the power of the sun at midnight produced a
temperature several degrees above the freezing point, and occasioned the
discharge of streams of water from the snow-capped summit.
The form of the mountain summit which I visited is round backed, the area
of the part approaching the horizontal position not being above a quarter of
an acre. The south side, where we ascended, and the south-east are the only
accessible parts, the east, north, and west aspects being precipitous nearly from
top to bottom. What snow still remained on the summit was but a few inches
deep, and appeared to be in a state of rapid dissolution ; the sides of the hill were
almost entirely free from snow. The masses of stone on the brow of the
mountain were larger than any we had yet met with, the fracture was less fresh,
and they were more generally covered with lichens.
From the brow of the mountain, on the side by which we ascended, many
masses of stone were dislodged by design or accident, which, whatever might
be their size, shape, or weight, generally made their way with accelerated
velocity to the bottom. As they bounded from rock to rock they produced
considerable smoke at each concussion, and, setting in motion numerous
fragments in their course, they were usually accompanied by showers of stones,
all of which were lodged in a bed of snow lying 2,000 ft. below the place where
the first were disengaged. This may afford some idea of the nature of the
inclination. Most of the larger stones which were set off broke into numbers
of pieces, but some considerable masses of a tabular form wheeled down upon
their edges, and though they made bounds of several hundred feet at a time,
and acquired a most astonishing velocity, they sometimes got to the bottom
without breaking.
The prospect was most extensive and grand. A fine sheltered bay was seen
on the east of us, an arm of the same on the north-east, and the sea, whose
glassy surface was unruffled by a breeze, formed an immense expanse on the
west ; the icebergs 1 , rearing their proud crests almost to the tops of the
mountains between which they were lodged, and defying the power of the solar
beams, were scattered in various directions about the sea coast and in the
adjoining bays. Beds of snow and ice filling extensive hollows, and giving an
enamelled coat to adjoining valleys, one of which commencing at the foot of the
mountain where we stood, extended in a continued line towards the north, as
far as the eye could reach ; mountain rising above mountain, until by distance
they dwindled into insignificancy ; the whole contrasted by a cloudless canopy
of deepest azure, and enlightened by the rays of a blazing sun, and the effect
aided by a feeling of danger, seated as we were on the pinnacle of a rock,
almost surrounded by tremendous precipices — all united to constitute a picture
singularly sublime. Here we seemed elevated into the very heavens, and,
though in a hazardous situation, I was sensible only of pleasing emotions,
heightened by the persuasion that, from experience in these kind of adventures,
I was superior to the dangers with which I was surrounded. The effect of the
elevation and the brightness of the picture were such that the sea, which was
at least a league from us, appeared within reach of a musket-shot ; mountains
a dozen miles off seemed scarcely a league from us ; and our vessel, which we
1 By 'icebergs' Scoresby means glaciers.
Scoresby s Book 287
knew was at the distance of a league from the shore, appeared in danger of
the rocks.
After a short rest, in which we were much refreshed with a gentle breeze
of wind that here prevailed, and after we had surveyed the surrounding scenery
as long as it afforded anything striking, we commenced the descent. This
task, however, which before the attempt we had viewed with indifference, we
found really a very hazardous, and in some instances a painful undertaking.
The way now seemed precipitous. Every movement was a work of delibera-
tion. The stones were so sharp that they cut our boots and pained our feet,
and so loose that they gave way almost at every step, and frequently threw us
backward with force against the hill. We were careful to advance abreast of
each other, for any individual being below us would have been in danger of
being overwhelmed with the stones which we unintentionally dislodged in
showers. Having, by much care, and with some anxiety, made good our
descent to the top of the secondary hills, to save the fatigue of crawling along
the sharp ridge that we had before traversed we took down one of the steepest
banks, the inclination of which was little less than 50 . The stones here being
very small and loose, we sat down on the side of the hill, and slid forward with
great facility in a sitting posture. Towards the foot of the hill an expanse of
snow stretched across the line of descent. This being loose and soft, we
entered upon it without fear, and our progress at first was by no means rapid ;
but, on reaching the middle of it, we came to a surface of solid ice, perhaps
a hundred yards across, over which we launched with astonishing velocity, but
happily escaped without injury. The men whom we left below viewed this
latter movement with astonishment and fear.
In 1820 Scoresby published, at Edinburgh, the result of
his life's observations in two volumes, entitled An Account
of the Arctic Regions — a classical work which is still well
worth reading, and might be republished with success
nowadays, omitting portions that are out of date. In
this book he brought together his deductions from his
own observations, corrected by whatever he had been able
to read of the work of others. He in fact summed up
the Arctic knowledge of his day and laid a firm foundation
for future advance.
The summer seasons of 18 16 and 181 7 were remarkable
for the openness of the seas north of Spitsbergen and the
retreat of the pack. Whalers carried the report of this
condition of affairs home with them, and they falsely pre-
dicted that the season of 18 18 was likely to be yet more
open. Accordingly influences were brought to bear on the
British Government to send up another Arctic expedition
to take advantage of so unusual a chance. Sir John
Barrow, Secretary to the Admiralty, proved favourable
to the idea, and two expeditions were equipped and sent
out — one to the north-west under Ross and Parry, the
other to Spitsbergen under Buchan and Franklin. Captain
CH. XXI.
288 BucJian and Franklin
Buchan commanded the Dorothea, Lieutenant John Franklin
the Trent.
They sailed from the Thames on the 25th of April,
sighted Bear Island on the 24th of May, and a few days
later were at their rendezvous in Magdalena Bay, where
they waited some time to let the neighbouring ice-pack
break up. They used the interval to make many expedi-
tions in the neighbourhood. " One of our earliest excur-
sions in this bay was an attempt to ascend Rotge Hill,
upon which may now perhaps be seen, at the height of
about 2000 feet, a staff that once carried a red flag, which
was planted there to mark the greatest height we were
able to attain, partly in consequence of the steepness of the
ascent, but mainly on account of the detached masses of
rock which a very slight matter would displace, and hurl
down the precipitous declivity, to the utter destruction of
him who depended upon their support, or who might
happen to be in their path below. The latter part of our
ascent was, indeed, much against our inclination ; but we
found it impossible to descend by the way we had come up,
and were compelled to gain a ledge, which promised the
only secure resting-place we could find at that height.
This we were able to effect by sticking the tomahawks,
with which we were provided, into crevices in the rock, as
a support for our feet ; and some of these instruments we
were obliged to leave where they were driven in, in con-
sequence of the danger that attended their recovery. We
followed the ledge we had thus gained to the head of a
bank of snow, which filled up a valley to the east of the
hill, and found the snow sufficiently soft for our feet to
make an impression upon it, or I really believe we should
have been obliged to wait until we could have obtained
ropes from the ship to facilitate our descent. As it was,
this bed of snow was so steep that, had we missed our
footing, we must have rolled down and been precipitated
into the sea, as invariably happened with the birds we
shot 1 ."
The season, instead of being an open one, as was
expected, proved to be the very reverse. The ships put
to sea again on June 7th, but were soon beset, and only
1 Capt. A. H. Markham, Northward Ho, p. 240.
BeecJieys Panorama 289
after some days' delay were they able to get free and take
refuge in Fairhaven. Then it was that they discovered
the worthlessness of Phipps' chart and proceeded to
resurvev the neighbourhood. The admirable chart still
employed was the result of their labours. Many hills
around Fairhaven were climbed, and no less than 40 rein-
deer shot on Vogelsang alone. The deer were wary and
hard to approach. Nowadays you may spend a whole
summer on Vogelsang Island, and you will not see a single
reindeer. In Robbe Bay, which they visited, they found
still standing two large wooden huts, in old days the property
of the Danes. Lying before them were three boats lashed
together drawn up on the beach, near some graves. On
the northern extremity of one of the Norways they counted
no less than 243 graves, many with Dutch inscriptions, and
they noticed the ruins of the old Zeeland cookeries.
Putting to sea again on July 6th, they reached latitude
8o° 34', where they were completely beset. This was their
farthest north. While in the pack they noticed its strong
southerly drift, which was destined to defeat Parry, nine years
later, and to help Nansen. A few days later both ships were
severely damaged in a storm; when it abated they returned
to Fairhaven to refit, and on August 30th sailed for home.
The expedition was not a great success, certainly, but it
produced the first properly-surveyed map of any part of
Spitsbergen — the north-west corner. For this reason it
possesses some importance in Spitsbergen history. More-
over, it had the further effect of introducing some notions
of the character of Arctic scenery to the British public.
Lieutenant Beechey, who accompanied it, was a skilful and
accurate draughtsman. He devoted himself to sketching.
When his ship was beset off the north coast he carefully
drew the wide extending view of islands and cliffs, glaciers,
and rocky deserts that was displayed before him from Grey
Hook in the east to Vogelsang in the west. This drawing
of his was copied on a large scale, and (in 1819) exhibited
"in the large Rotunda of Henry Aston Barker's Panorama,
Leicester Square," where it attracted much attention. A
little descriptive pamphlet containing a small print of the
panorama was sold to visitors, and rare copies of this are
all the record that remains of the exhibition.
C. CH. XXI. 19
290 Sabine s Visit
In 1 82 1 a young German physician, M. W. Mandt,
sailed on the Hamburg whaler Blue her to the Greenland
and Spitsbergen seas. He brought back anatomical notes
and preparations and published his observations in the
form of a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine in
July, 1822. All that he says about the voyage is this,
"Ad gradum usque octogesimum primum latitudinis Poli
arctici, Spitzbergam praetervecti, pervenimus."
The seeds of interest in Arctic questions were now
firmly implanted in the mind of the European public, and
in process of time they produced a harvest of results that
has not even yet been garnered in. The only expeditions
that can here be noticed, however, are those that made
landings on the shores of Spitsbergen. The question of
the true figure of the Earth next determined a scientific
visit there. In 1823 Sir Edward Sabine was sent on
H.M.S. Griper (Captain Clavering) to make pendulum
observations at different points in the far north. One of
the positions chosen was Fairhaven. They anchored there
on July 1 st. Sabine set up his station on a low, dry and
level piece of ground at the south-west extremity of the
Inner Norway island. While he was making his pendulum
and magnetic observations, Clavering sailed, from July 4th
to 10th, to explore the edge of the pack. He found it against
the land, east of the Norways and stretching away un-
broken round as far as long. ii° W., where it turned
south-west. They saw no whalers whatever at Fairhaven,
and they state that the place was now only frequented by
Norwegian sloops. About July 18th the Griper sailed for
Greenland \
One of the results of this visit was to convince Sabine
that Spitsbergen was the northern land-surface par excellence
adapted for accurate measurement upon it of a fairly long
arc of the meridian — an operation of extreme importance
for throwing light upon the true figure of the Earth. He
began to make enquiries as to the accessibility of the
country, as to its climate, and the conditions of life upon it.
Of course he was thus put in communication with Mr Crowe,
British Vice-consul at Hammerfest, who was the energetic
1 Sabine's observatory is one of the most accurately fixed points in Spits-
bergen. Lat. 79 49' 57" .8 N., Long. n° 40' 30" E.
Sabine s Proposal 291
promoter at that time of the Norwegian hunting industry
around the shores of Spitsbergen. Crowe was applied to
for the results of his experience and in reply he sent a
communication to Lord Melbourne, in which he stated that
he was in the habit of sending sloops to Spitsbergen year
after year. In particular he stated that in 1825 he sent a
40-ton cutter which, after visiting his own establishment in
Ice Sound, sailed round to Walden Island without difficulty.
Crowe himself once spent a winter at Ice Sound 1 .
Fortified by his enquiries, Sabine wrote a letter to
Davies Gilbert, M.P., dated 8 Feb. 1826, formally proposing
that Government should send an expedition to measure an
arc of the meridian on Spitsbergen 2 . From that time
onwards the matter was intermittently mooted and Sabine
never ceased to press forward the undertaking. Norden-
skiold in his day took up Sabine's idea and some of his
Spitsbergen expeditions were made for the purpose of
reconnoitring the line to be measured and determining the
positions suitable for trigonometrical stations. In the last
years of the 19th century the measurement was finally
accomplished, the idea that originated with Sabine being
carried out by combined parties of Swedes and Russians,
to the discredit of successive British Governments. The
proposal, I suppose, was concerned with a problem, ap-
parently too abstract to appeal to the British public, who
on the other hand were at that time always delighted to
hear of the doings of naval expeditions in which the element
of pure adventure was large. Such an expedition was sent
out in 1827, when H.M.S. Hecla under the command of
Captain Parry was despatched to try and reach the North
Pole 3 .
" In April, 1826," relates Parry, " I proposed to the
Rt. Hon. Viscount Melville, First Lord Commissioner of
the Admiralty, to attempt to reach the North Pole, by
means of travelling with sledge-boats over the ice, or
1 Parry's Narrative, p. 137 note.
2 Printed in The Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts (Royal Institu-
tion), Vol. xxi. pp. 101-108. London, 1826.
3 Someone must have visited Spitsbergen in 1826, because it is recorded
in the archives of the Raleigh Club (parent of the Geographical Society and
the Geographical Club) that Captain Brooke presented to the Club for its
dinner on Feb. 7th, 1827, a haunch of reindeer venison from Spitsbergen.
CH. XXI. 19 — 2
292 Parry s Instructions
through any spaces of open water that might occur. My
proposal was soon after referred to the President and
Council of the Royal Society, who strongly recommended
its adoption ; and an Expedition being accordingly directed
to be equipped for this purpose, I had the honour of being
appointed to the command of it ; and my commission for
His Majesty's ship the Hecla, which was intended to
carry us to Spitsbergen, was dated the 11th of November,
1826 The hopes I had formed of being able to attain
this object, and the plan now suggested for putting it into
execution, were principally founded on a similar proposition
formerly made by my friend and brother-officer. Captain
Franklin, who judging of this enterprise by his own ex-
perience, as well as by that of his associates. Captains
Buchan and Beechey, though by no means thinking lightly
of the labour and hazard attending it, had drawn up a plan
for making the attempt, and himself volunteered to conduct
it It was proposed to take with us resources for 90 days;
to set out from Spitsbergen, if possible, about the beginning
of June ; and to occupy the months of June, July, and
August, in attempting to reach the Pole, and returning to
the ship; making an average journey of 13^ miles per
day."
In Parry's Instructions he was ordered not only to
proceed northwards over the ice-pack but to organize other
investigations, the like of which had never previously been
undertaken in Spitsbergen. The passage has so great an
historical interest that I quote it in full.
" Previous to your departure from the Hecla, you are to
direct Lieutenant Foster to proceed, in a boat fitted for the
purpose, as soon as the season shall be sufficiently advanced,
to survey the Northern and Eastern Coast of Spitsbergen,
and to continue down the latter as far as may be practicable;
with instructions to him to make observations on the dip,
variation, and intensity of the Magnetic Needle ; the tem-
perature ; the barometric pressure of the atmosphere ; and
such other meteorological phenomena as he may be enabled
to notice ; the extent of open water ; the quantity, the
position and nature of the ice ; the depth, temperature, and
specific gravity of the sea ; and you will also direct him to
pay attention to the number of Whales he may meet with, in
The Hecla sails 293
order that an opinion may be formed as to the expediency
and practicability of extending the Whale Fishery on that
Coast ; and you will give him such directions, as to the
time he is to remain on this Survey, as will ensure his
return to the Vessel, so as not to endanger her being shut
up in the Ice for the Winter. While these two operations
are carrying on by yourself and Lieutenant Foster, you are
to instruct the Officers left in the Command of the Hecla,
to employ the Officers and Men remaining on board in
embracing every opportunity of making all such observations
as may best contribute to the benefit of general Science, and
collect and preserve all such specimens of Subjects of
Natural History, whether Animals, Plants, or Minerals, as
may be deemed new or curious."
The Hecla accordingly weighed from the Nore on the
4th of March, 1827, and was towed out by a steamer, which
quitted her the same evening. On April 19th she put in to
Hammerfest to take reindeer on board, the idea being to
employ them as draught-animals on the ice-pack — an idea
that was not put into execution. At Hammerfest Parry
met various residents, especially Messrs Crowe and Wood-
fall, British merchants already often mentioned in the
present volume. On April 29th they weighed. The first
ice was encountered on May 5th. On the 9th they were
joined by two Peterhead whalers, and several more were
seen next day. " None of the ships had yet taken a single
whale, which, indeed, they never expect to do to the south-
ward of about 78°. " On the 11th they saw Black Point,
at which time they were in company with 12 whalers, two
of them being Dutch. On the 14th they arrived off
Hakluyt Headland but found Fairhaven full of ice. In
this neighbourhood they weathered a severe storm, and
then on the 15th drifted eastward in the ice past Cloven
Cliff along the north coast, near Red Beach. They con-
tinued drifting eastward in the ice, sometimes in consider-
able danger from heavy pressures. Lieut. Ross landed on
Red Beach on the 22nd and found two graves on a hillock
dated 1 741 and 1762. They landed a boat and reserve of
provisions on Red Beach on the 29th and then were carried
across the mouth of Wijde Bay. On June 6th Parry visited
Mossel Bay, hoping to find it a suitable harbour for the
CH. XXI.
294 Parry s Voyage
Hecla, but in his opinion it was not, though Nordenskiold
used it successfully about half a century later. All this
time the weather was beautiful. Day after day during
more than three weeks "we had a clear and cloudless sky,
scarcely any wind, and, with the exception of a few days
previously to the 23rd of May, a warm temperature in the
shade and quite a scorching sun." They rounded Verlegen
Hook on the 8th of June and presently got free of ice
"after a close and tedious besetment of 24 days." On the
low shore near Verlegen Hook they saw a house, which
appeared in a ruinous state, and which they supposed to
have belonged to some Russian settlers. They now
thought to examine Brandywine Bay for a suitable harbour
but ice rendered access impossible, so they sailed about on
their quest and on the 13th visited Walden Island but
took no comfort from it. Next day they were in lat.
8i° 5 / 32 // N. and might have gone further to the N.E. had
there been any reason for it. On the 16th they landed on
Walden Island and climbed about 300 feet for a view.
They saw the Seven Islands and believed they saw "some
land far beyond them to the eastward." It is marked on
their chart, but no such land really exists. They next
sailed for Little Table Island " with some slight hope that
the rock off its northern end might afford shelter for the
ship." Ross landed on the small rock on the 17th and
deposited a small store of provisions, as they had also on
Walden Island. " The islet consists of gneiss, having
garnets imbedded in some specimens... Lieutenant Ross
described the rocks as covered with abundance of very
large tripe-de-roc he, some reindeer moss, and other lichens;
and there was abundance of good water in pools. A few
brent-geese, eider-ducks, and a Lestris Parasiticus, were
all the animals seen."
Finally they sailed back to Verlegen Hook, where they
fortunately noticed Treurenberg Bay, which is marked on
the copy of Gerard Van Keulen's Giles and Rep chart,
which they had with them. Parry examined it in a boat
on the 19th, found the cove, since known as Hecla Cove,
and perceived that it was perfectly suited for his purpose.
As a matter of fact it served well ; but it was really a very
dangerous position for a ship, as the Dutch whalers of the
Parry s Boat-expedition 295
previous century could have told him. The season of 1827
from this time forward was a remarkably open one. In
most seasons Treurenberg Bay, if accessible at all, is so
only for a short time. No whaler would have ventured to
leave his ship for two months in Hecla Cove. He would
expect the mouth of the bay to have been closed at
any moment and his ship to have been shut in for the
winter, without hope of release. The reader will remember
what the Dutch whalers told Croisic in 1693 about the
danger of this locality. As a matter of fact Mossel Bay
would have been a safer anchorage than the one chosen, for
if Wijde Bay is open at all, it remains open longer than the
bays further east. Parry had colossal luck.
After berthing the ship and making all necessary ar-
rangements Parry, Ross, Beverly, and Bird, with two
boats, and provisions for 71 days, left the Hecla on June
2 1 st. Crozier accompanied them with one of the ship's
cutters for the first part of the way. They landed on Low
Island on the 22nd and made a cache of provisions. On
the 23rd they landed on Walden Island, whence Crozier
and his boat were sent back. The same day they also
landed on Little Table Island. Northward only a small
quantity of loose ice was in sight, a most unusual condition
of affairs. At midnight they had rowed to 8o°5i'i3 // .
Henceforward their progress does not really concern us,
but we may briefly follow it. Twelve hours later, in
8i° 1 2' 5 1" they first took to the ice and began their journey
over it on June 24th, taking to the water when they could,
and hauling their boats over the floes when they had to.
They found the pack a very different kind of thing from
what they had expected. They made unpleasant acquaint-
ance with its hummocks and soon realized that the flat
surface they had looked for was not a common feature.
They also found how soft is the surface in the summer and
how laborious is the work of dragging things over it. They
also discovered the merit of sledges running on ski. Before
long the leaders of the expedition realized that the surface
over which they were travelling was drifting southwards
almost as fast as they could advance northwards. Ulti-
mately this movement beat them. They kept the fact
secret from their men, in order not to discourage them, but
CH. XXI.
296 Parry s FartJiest North
the men soon began to realize it. On June 29th they were
only in 8i° 23'. Fogs almost continuously enveloped them.
Rain was frequent. " The eye wearied itself in vain to
find any object but ice and sky to rest upon ; and even the
latter was often hidden from our view by the dense and
dismal fogs which so generally prevailed. For want of
variety, the most trifling circumstance engaged a more than
ordinary share of our attention ; a passing gull, or a mass of
ice of unusual form, became objects which our situation and
circumstances magnified into ridiculous importance." The
surface of the ice was so soft that ''the men, in dragging
the sledges, were often under the necessity of crawling upon
all-fours, to make any progress at all." Once it took 2 hours
to go 150 yards. When, they asked, were they going to
reach the " main ice " which Captain Lutwidge described as
"one continued plain of smooth, unbroken ice, bounded
only by the horizon " ?
On July 10th they were in 82° 3' 19/' '. On the 14th it
rained incessantly for 21 hours, "sometimes falling with
great violence and in large drops." Between the 17th and
the 20th they only made 5 miles northing. On the 22nd
after a long and apparently successful march they were
only in 82°43 / 5". The men began to remark that "we
were a long time getting to this 83°. " In 82J the floes
were all still very small, only one piece being in sight on the
25th on which they could venture to trust the boats while
they rested. About 7 a.m. on the 23rd they reached their
highest latitude, which they reckoned was 82° 40'. Their
highest observed latitude was 82° 40' 23". At the extreme
point of their journey they were 172 miles from the Hecla.
" To accomplish this distance we had traversed, by our
reckoning, 292 miles, of which about 100 were performed
by water previously to our entering the ice. As we
travelled by far the greater part of our distance on the
ice three, or not unfrequently five times over, we may
safely multiply the length of the road by two and a half;
so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation,
amounted to 580 geographical, or 668 statute miles, being
nearly sufficient to have reached the Pole in a direct line."
On the 27th they turned southward. They gained open
water on Aug. 11th in 8i°34' after 48 days on the ice.
Foster s Surveys 297
They landed next day on the rock north of Table Island
and named it after Lieutenant Ross. Then they went to
Walden Island and took a good rest there. Next day they
named Beverly and Bird Islands, and on the 15th they
landed on Low Island, of which they made an extensive
examination, for bad weather delayed them there. They
could nowhere find "the hexagonal stones mentioned by
Dr Irving in Phipps's Voyage, as occurring about the
northern part of the island." Not till the 21st were they
finally able to get away. They arrived on board the Hecla
the same evening and found all well.
During Parry's absence Lieutenant Foster, after making
an accurate plan of Treurenberg Bay, proceeded on the
survey of Hinloopen Strait, the shores of which he mapped
as far to the southward as 79° 33', near Foster's Islands.
Geological observations were made. Foster recognised
distinctly almost every feature of the lands delineated in
the Giles and Rep chart, though their position in latitude
and longitude was very erroneously laid down. There was
proof enough however that the old chart was the result of
sketches made upon the spot. That this fact should have
required proof in 1827 shows how completely the memory
of Dutch exploration done only a hundred years before had
faded away. The neighbourhood of Treurenberg Bay, writes
Parry, "like most of the northern shores of Spitsbergen,
appears to have been much visited by the Dutch at a very
early period ; of which circumstance records are furnished,
on almost every spot where we landed, by the numerous
graves which are met with. There are 30 of these on a
point of land on the north side of the bay 1 . The bodies
are usually deposited in an oblong wooden coffin, which, on
account of the difficulty of digging the ground, is not
buried, but merely covered by large stones ; and a board
is generally placed near the head, having, either cut or
painted upon it, the name of the deceased with those of his
ship and commander and the month and year of his burial.
Several of these were 50 or 60 years old ; one bore the
date 1738 ; and another, which I found on the beach to the
eastward of Hecla Cove, that of 1690' 2 , the inscription
1 Marked on the accompanying chart. There is a view of and from these
graves in Torrell's Svenska Expeditionen till Sp. ar 1861 (Stockholm, 1865),
p. 80.
2 The same grave was seen by Nordenskiold.
CH. XXI.
298 Return of the Hecla
distinctly appearing in prominent relief, occasioned by the
preservation of the wood by the paint, while the unpainted
part had decayed around it."
Foster specially noted the great glaciers descending to
the sea between Treurenberg and Lomme Bays, "faithfully
laid down on the Dutch chart." He saw no whales, but
observed bones and skeletons of them "in most parts where
we landed" on the east coast. At Hecla Cove they killed
70 reindeer. " They were usually met with in herds of
from 6 or 8 to 20, and were most abundant on the west and
north sides of the bay." They also killed three bears. The
hill nearest Hecla Cove was climbed and found to be about
2000 feet high. " The officers who remained on board the
Hecla durine the summer described the weather as the
most beautiful, and the climate altogether the most agree-
able they had ever experienced in polar regions." It must
have been an exceptional season.
On August 28th the Hecla sailed from Treurenberg
Bay, took on board stores left at Red Beach, whence not a
scrap of floating ice was visible, rounded Hakluyt's Head-
land on the 30th, and bade farewell to the Foreland on the
31st. She arrived in the Thames on October 6th and thus
completed the most generally successful arctic expedition
which up to that time had visited Spitsbergen, besides
establishing a new arctic record for highest North.
Just as the Hecla was losing sight of Spitsbergen the
modest sloop conveying the Norwegian geologist Keilhau
was nearing South Cape. We have already referred to
Keilhau's observations, made in the weeks immediately
following, both at South Cape and on Edge Island.
Keilhau was the first Scandinavian man of science to visit
Spitsbergen. The scientific exploration of that country
was destined to be mainly carried out by Scandinavians,
and Keilhau deserves to be remembered as their fore-
runner. He went up in the most modest manner, with no
Government backing or flourish of trumpets, but behind his
modesty there was the determined scientific spirit. He
showed that great funds were not required, but that a man
with the proper intellectual equipment who was willing to
endure hardship and to work on land could attain valuable
results at very small expense. His example was not im-
mediately followed, but ultimately it bore rich fruit. Balthasar
Keilhau s Voyage 299
Mathias Keilhau deserves his little niche of fame in the
temple of scientific honour 1 . It was ten years before
another Scandinavian followed Keilhau's example. In 1837
Professor Sven Loven, of Stockholm, visited the west coast
of Spitsbergen for the purposes of geological and general
scientific study. His journal has never, I believe, been
published, but a passage from it describing his boat ex-
pedition up King's Bay is quoted by TorrelP. It is also
recorded that he dredged along the west coast. He
visited Green Harbour in Ice Sound and doubtless other
west coast bays. Sven Loven was the man who, 20 years
later, inspired Torrell to undertake a scientific exploration
of Spitsbergen. Torrell's expedition of 1858 and the series
of important Swedish expeditions of later years, with which
the name of Nordenskiold is so prominently connected, were
the direct result of Loven's initiative, and, though I have
never seen the fact authoritatively stated, there can be little
doubt that Loven was himself prompted by Keilhau, who
just did not live long enough to hear of Torrell's start.
With these Swedish expeditions we are not here con-
cerned. They belong to the later branch of our subject
which lies beyond the scope of the present volume.
In fact our story is almost told, but there still remain
two more expeditions which may properly be brought
within it. These were the visits paid to Spitsbergen in
1838 and 1839 by the French cruiser La Recherche.
That vessel was sent out by the French Government to
make a study of the northern parts of Norway and Sweden
and the neighbouring lands and waters. Her visits to
Spitsbergen were only minor incidents in two seasons'
cruising. Messrs Crowe and Woodfall were again helpful
to this expedition.
In 1838 the Recherche anchored in Schoonhoven of
Bell Sound on July 25th, and the bay was unjustifiably
1 Born 1797 near Christiania. Devoted himself to Scandinavian geology,
Professor in University of Christiania from 1826. Studied specially the geology
and natural history of the Nordland. 1827 visited Bear Island and Spitsbergen.
1828 travelled in Finmark. 1831 published his Spitsbergen book. There is
a portrait of him in the Geological Museum at Christiania. He published his
autobiography in 1857, and died 1 Jan. 1858. Everest, who met him at Hammerfest
in 1827, describes him as "a young man of great talents and enthusiasm...
equalled by few in his power of enduring fatigue."
2 Vide L. Passarge's translation of Torrell's Nordenskiold (Jena, 1869),
pp. 287-291.
CH. XXI.
300 Voyage of La Recherche
renamed after her. When the number of interesting events
are remembered, which took place in that bay centuries
before any French ship ever went there — Pelham's winter-
ing, the English settlement there, the Russian settlement,
the yearly gathering of the Dutch whalers at the end of
the season — it was really impertinent for a mere visitor at
so late a date to arrogate the right to suppress all these
old memories and bury them beneath a new name given
in record of a very unimportant occurrence. Such, how-
ever, has been the way of modern visitors to Spitsbergen,
and perhaps the worst of all offenders in this kind are the
Swedes.
The officers of the Recherche set up an observatory on
Observatory Hill (564 m.), the ascent of which is not so
difficult as their account implies. They made a number of
observations on the meteorology, the geology, and botany
of the neighbourhood, and so forth ; they likewise made an
excellent survey of the bay. On the 5th of August the
Recherche sailed for Norway. She returned again next
year, having on board Monsieur Biard and his young wife,
who wrote an account of her visit to the arctics. This time
they anchored in English Cove of Magdalena Bay and
set up their observatory on the burial-ground. A boat
expedition was made as far as Amsterdam Island, and
Magdalena Bay was surveyed. The Recherche quitted
Spitsbergen for good on August 13th. The results of these
two short visits to the bays of Spitsbergen were described
in the general account of the voyage, and they were illus-
trated by some most admirable views of the scenery, which
are by far the best ever published before the days of
photography. What may have been the value of the
scientific observations I am not in a position to affirm.
Another French man-of-war, La Mane he, visited Ice
Sound in 1892 with Mons. Rabot on board, whilst the
British Training Squadron spent a few days in Bell Sound
in 1895, but these incidents fall beyond the limits of the
present enquiry. A new volume of Spitsbergen history
opens with Sven Loven's visit in 1837 ; the future historian
of the modern scientific exploration of Spitsbergen must
make that his point of departure. The chronological list
of voyages and events here appended may be of service to
him. It does not claim to be complete.
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL VOYAGES TO SPITSBERGEN,
RECORDED FROM 1847 TO 1900 \
1847. Capt. Lund, in the sloop Antoinette, navigated Walter Thymen's Strait
for the first time on record (Heuglin, vol. i. p. 175).
1855. Observations on the Birds of West Spitsbergen, by Messrs Evans and
Sturge (Ibis, 1859, pp. 166-174).
1856. Lord Dufferin visited English Bay in his yacht, the Foam.
1858. Swedish Expedition : Torrell, Quennerstadt, and Nordenskiold in the
Frithiof.
Lamont took his yacht, the Genevra, to Spitsbergen and explored Wybe
Jans Water.
This year the walrus hunters rediscovered Heley Sound (Passarge's
Torrell and Nordenskiold, p. 474). The discovery was probably made
by Johannes Neilsen, of Tromso (R. G. S. Proc. 1864-5, p. 308).
1859. Lamont in the yacht Genevra again hunted in Wybe Jans Water. The
Norwegian skipper Elling Carlsen, in the brig Jan Mayen, hunted in
Olga Strait, and came within two miles of Swedish Foreland.
1861. Torrell, Nordenskiold, and other Swedes, in the Aeolus and Magdalena,
spent four months exploring the coast of Spitsbergen.
1862. A party climbed the peak of Middle Hook in Bell Sound (Record found
by Koldeway, in 1868).
1863. Elling Carlsen, in the Jan Mayen, circumnavigated the whole Spitsbergen
group for the first time.
1864. Nordenskiold and other Swedes, in the Axel Thordsen, went up to com-
plete the work of preliminary survey for the measurement of an arc
of the meridian.
Messrs E. Birkbeck and A. Newton, in the yacht Sidtana, made observa-
tions on the Birds of Spitsbergen (Ibis, 1865, pp. 199 and 496). They
found three Norwegians living in the Russian hut at Advent Point.
The Norwegian walrus-skippers, Tobiesen, Mathilas, and Aarstrom,
having sailed round North-east Land, were compelled to abandon their
sloops. They rowed up Hinloopen Strait, and round to Ice Sound
(R. G. S. Proc. ix. 1864-5, p. 308).
A sloop this year navigated Heley Sound (Lamont, Arctic Seas, p. 252).
1867. Captain Ronnbak, of Hammerfest, circumnavigated West Spitsbergen
(Brogger and Rolfsen's Nansen, London, 1896, p. 267).
1868. Nordenskiold and other Swedes, in the steamer Sofia, visited especially
the north coast of Spitsbergen and North-east Land.
The first German Arctic expedition, under Koldeway, in the Gronland,
explored principally the east coast and bays of Spitsbergen and
Hinloopen Strait. They circumnavigated West Spitsbergen.
1869. Lamont, in the yacht Diana, hunted chiefly in and about Wybe Jans
Water. He passed through Heley Sound in a boat.
Between 1868 A journey made by Dorst and Bessels to Spitsbergen, " auf
and 1870. Rosenthal'schen Fahrzeugen," is mentioned by Heuglin.
1870. M. Th. von Heuglin explored chiefly the east coast and the coasts of Edge
and Barents Islands.
Drs Nathorst and Wilander made a geological expedition to Ice Fiord.
3 For references see Bibliography.
302 Modern Voyages
1871. Lamont, in the yacht Diana, visited the west coast of Spitsbergen and
the south coast of Edge Island, also the Kyk Yse Islands.
Leigh Smith, in the yacht Sampson, explored the north coast of Spits-
bergen, Hinloopen Strait, the Seven Islands, and the north coast of
North-east Land (the Field, 1872, p. 45).
This year tourists were for the first time taken to Spitsbergen by a small
Hammerfest steamer.
1872. Leigh Smith, in the yacht Sampson, visited the north coast of Spits-
bergen.
Graf Wilczek, in the Isbjm-n, surveyed Horn Sound.
The walrus-skippers, Altman, Johnsen, and Nilsen, landed on King Carl's
Island (Petermann Mitt. 1873, p. 121 and Tafel 7).
A Swedish Company, formed to exploit the coprolite beds, built a house
(called Nordenskiold's house), at Cape Thordsen, and laid down a tram-
line ; but the enterprise was abandoned (see Redogbrelse for den sv.
polarex. ar 1872-3, p. 10, by Nordenskiold, in Bihang K. S. Vet.
Akad. Hand. 1875, Bd. 2, no. 18).
Several Norwegian sloops being shut up in the ice, an unsuccessful
attempt was made to rescue them by a steamer sent from Hammerfest,
in November, but ice prevented her from advancing further than
South Cape. Seventeen men who abandoned their sloops off Eed
Beach took refuge in the new house at Cape Thordsen, and all died
there.
Swedish Polar Expedition, under Nordenskiold, in the s.s. Polhem and the
brig Gladan, wintered in Mossel Bay. Norwegian sloops were beset
at Grey Hook, two off Red Beach. The Grey Hook crews wintered
with the Swedes.
1873. Nordenskiold explored North-east Land, and crossed it with sledges. On
June 6th sloops arrived at Mossel Bay, and on June 12th relief was
brought by Leigh Smith, in the steam-yacht Diana. Visits were
paid to the Seven Islands and other places. Leigh Smith also visited
the Seven Islands.
Dr R. von Drasche-Wartinberg visited Ice Sound for geological study.
1874. The Marquis of Ormonde and Mr Henry Osborn, in the yacht Mirage,
visited Ice Sound on a sporting expedition.
The English whalers, David and John Gray, made investigations as to
the nature and drift of the ice-pack near Spitsbergen.
1878. The Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition visited South Cape, Advent
Bay, and Fairhaven.
1879. A very open year north of Spitsbergen. Skipper J. Kjelsen, of Tromso,
sailed in open sea 60 miles north of the Seven Islands.
1880. Leigh Smith, returning from Franz Josef Land, followed the edge of the
pack to Hope Island, and went up Wybe Jans Water to Heley Sound.
1881. The U.S. s. Alliance visited Spitsbergen waters searching for the Jeanette.
A tourist-steamer went to Ice and Bell Sounds. Amongst its passengers
were Messrs A. H. Cocks, Abel Chapman, and Phillipps Wolley, who
made and published observations on the natural history. Wolley
(p. 331) tells of one Gamle Becke, a Norwegian hunter, who yearly at
this time was wont to come up to Spitsbergen in a little open boat,
following the first whalers, to shoot reindeer. " He is an old man,
but he comes alone, and, though he is glad now and then to be taken
in tow by a bigger vessel, he has no fear of the Northern seas."
1882. Cocks and Rabot went up to Ice Sound on the 40-ton smack, Cecilie
Malene.
Nathorst and De Geer, in the Bjona, made an important geological expe-
dition to the bays of the west coast.
1882-3. A Swedish Meteorological Expedition, in conjunction with the Inter-
national Polar Exploration movement, settled for a year at Cape
to Spitsbergen 303
Thordsen. Lieut. H. Stjernspetz, in Aug. 1883, explored and mapped
Dickson Bay.
1883. Capt. Arnesen, a Norwegian hunting skipper, went to the Ryk Yse
Islands and about Wybe Jans Water. In the north-east of Edge
Island they shot some " castrated and ear-marked " reindeer, which
must have been some that escaped from Nordenskiold's settlement at
Mossel Bay in the winter of 1872-3 (Ymer, iv. p. 88).
1884. Skipper Johannesen, of Tromso, approached Wiche Islands from the east ;
Hemming Andreasen reached them from the south ( Ymer, ix. 65).
1885. The doings of the Norwegian hunting sloops this year are recorded in
Ymer, v. p. 232. They got as far as Brandywine Bay, and down
Hinloopen Strait to Wahlberg Island.
1886. Dr Kuckenthal made an unimportant visit to Advent Bay as passenger
in a small whaler.
1887. Skipper E. H. Johannesen rediscovered an island east of North-east Land
(Ymer, vn. p. 179).
1888. Sir Henry Gore Booth, in his yacht Lancashire Witch, visited Spitsbergen
on a sporting expedition, and reached the north cape of North-east
Land.
1888-9. Mr Arnold Pike built a hut on the north shore of Danes Island, and
wintered there.
1889. Skipper Andreasen explored Wiche Islands (Ymer, ix. p. 64).
Herren W. Kukenthal and A. Walther, of Bremen, visited the east side
of Spitsbergen, landed on Wiche Islands, proceeded up Hinloopen
Strait, and circumnavigated West Spitsbergen.
1890. Gustaf Nordenskiold and others visited Spitsbergen and crossed overland
from Horn Sound to Bell Sound, and from Advent Bay to Coles Bay,
besides entering various harbours on a scientific mission.
This year Captain Bade brought up a tourist ship to Spitsbergen, and
continued to do so annually till 1896, and often later.
1891. Leo Cremer visited Spitsbergen with Capt. Bade, and made a study of
the coal beds in Advent and King's Bays.
Prinz Heinrich von Bourbon visited Spitsbergen in the yacht Fleur
de Lys.
1892. Prinz Heinrich von Bourbon again visited Spitsbergen in the same
yacht.
The Duke of Hamilton visited Ice Sound in the yacht Thistle.
The French cruiser La Manche visited some of the bays of the west coast.
Mons. Rabot landed in Sassen Bay and explored the Sassendal to the
mouth of Fulmar Valley.
1893-4. The Norwegian sailors Brakmo and Oxnas wintered in Bell Sound,
and supported themselves by hunting (Petermann Mitt. 1894, p. 248).
1894. Mr Wellman with an American Polar Expedition was wrecked near
Walden Island. They built a hut there, and ultimately escaped
over the ice-pack and in boats to Fairhaven.
Colonel Feilden and Mr Parker visited Green Harbour and Danes Island
in the yacht Saide.
The Orient Company's s.s. Lusitania visited Spitsbergen and reached
80° 30' N. in open sea. Mr V. H. Gatty landed in Sassen Bay and
climbed Mount Lusitania (Alpine Journal, xvn. p. 309).
1894-5. Martin H. Ekroll of Skroven in Lofoten, with the schooner Willem
Barents, wintered at Habenicht Bay and had parties at Andersen
Island and at Botsche Island (so he told me, but see Petermann
Mitt. 41, p. 247).
1895. Visit of H.M. Training Squadron to Bell Sound.
1895-6. Klaas Thue and another Norwegian sailor wintered at Advent Bay
Their journal was published by the Aftenposten of Christiania.
1896. Baron De Geer made a geological expedition to Ice and Bell Sounds.
304 Modern Voyages
Sir Martin Conway and others explored the interior between Ice and Bell
Sounds and Agardh Bay. They crossed Spitsbergen for the first time
and visited the bays of the north coast and Walden Island, and passed
down Hinloopen Strait to near Wiche Islands.
Capt. Bade took the tourist steamer Erling Jarl to lat. 81° 37' N.
The Vesteraalen Steamship Co. built a tourist hut at Advent Point and
established a weekly service of tourist steamers from Tromso during
the summer. The service was discontinued and the hut abandoned
after 1897.
Herr Andree established himself by Pike's house in Danes Gat, set up his
balloon-house there, and made ready for his balloon attempt to reach
the North Pole, but the season was unfavourable, so he returned to
Sweden.
1897. Heir Andree returned to Danes Gat, and on July 11th ascended with two
companions in the balloon Eagle. They were not afterwards heard of.
In connexion with Andree's enterprise and its unfortunate end, the follow-
ing pamphlet (which I have not succeeded in finding) is worth mention:
Beschreibung einer wunderbaren Luftreise von den Spitzbergen nock
dem Monde, 1787, 8vo. The place of publication is not recorded.
Parties from Andree's ship, the Virgo, made surveys of Smeerenburg Bay
and the neighbourhood.
Mr Arnold Pike cruised east of Spitsbergen and landed on Wiche Islands.
Sir Martin Conway and Mr Garwood explored the interior between Klaas
Bille and Wijde Bays and between King's Bay and Ice Sound. They
also surveyed Horn Sound and climbed Horn Sunds Tind.
This year the Spitsbergen Gazette was published at the tourist hut at
Advent Point.
1898. The German Government sent a vessel, the Olga, to examine the possi-
bility of establishing a fishery on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
She visited the western bays.
Drs F. Rbmer and F. Schaudrinn went to Spitsbergen and Wiche Islands
on behalf of the Berlin Natural History Museum, joining a private
expedition for the purpose of making zoological observations and
collections.
The Prince of Monaco landed on Hope and Barents Islands and at
various points in Ice Sound and made expeditions inland.
Nathorst made an important scientific expedition, circumnavigating
Spitsbergen and landing on Giles Land and Wiche Islands, which he
thoroughly explored.
Swedish and Russian expeditions began the measurement of an arc of
the meridian in Spitsbergen.
1899. The Swedish and Russian expeditions continued their work, and climbed
a high peak near Wijde Bay. They wintered in Spitsbergen in 1899-
1900.
The Prince of Monaco surveyed Red Bay and its neighbourhood and
visited other parts of the north coast.
This year a Norwegian skipper brought away a cargo of coal from
Spitsbergen.
1900. A very icy season in West Spitsbergen : even Ice Sound could not be
entered till late, but Capt. Bade took a tourist steamer to Franz
Josef Land.
The Swedes and Russians completed the work of measuring an arc of
the meridian.
A coal -shaft was sunk by a Trondhjem syndicate near the shore at Advent
Bay. After blasting through 40 feet of clear fossil ice, solid rock was
reached, and 20 feet lower a seam of coal 10 ft. thick. A Company
was afterwards formed to work this deposit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE HISTORY AND
GEOGRAPHY OF SPITSBERGEN.
The titles of hooks which have leen consulted in the British Museum are followed
by B.M. and the class-mark. B.R.H. indicates books consulted in the Royal
Library at the Hague. Where scientific papers are referred to, it is because of
the geographical information they contain. No attempt has been made to
include a list of the papers dealing with the geology and natural history of
Sjntsbergen.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES.
A. Gr. Camus. Memoire sur la collection des Grands et Petits Voyages et sur la
collection des voyages de Melchisedec Thevenot. Paris: 1802. 4to.
Frederick Mullee. Essai d'nne Bibliographic Neerlando-Russe, etc. Amsterdam:
1 Oct. 1859. 4to. B.M. 11901, k. 3.
P. A. Tiele. Memoire bibliographique sur les journaux des navigateurs neerlandais
reimprimes dans les collections de de Bry, etc. Amsterdam : 1867. 8vo.
Dr. Josef Chavanne. Die Litteratur iiber die Polar-Regionen der Erde von Dr.
Josef Chavanne, Dr. Alois Karpf, Franz Ritter von Le Monnier. Wien :
1878. 8vo.
Alexander Leslie. The Arctic "Voyages of A. E. Nordenskjold, 1858-1879.
London: 1879. 8vo.
Appendix II. contains a list of books and memoirs relating to the Swedish
Arctic Expeditions (150 titles of publications from 1857-1877). Passarge's
German translation (Leipzig, 1880 : 8vo) contains a completer bibliography
(193 titles).
P. A. Tiele. Nederlandische Bibliographie van Land- en Volkenkunde. Amster-
dam : 1884. 8vo.
Valuable references to atlases and early Dutch voyages. B.M. Ac. 9621.
C. 20
306 Bibliography
COLLECTIONS AND RESUMES OF VOYAGES, CONTAINING
VOYAGES TO SPITSBERGEN.
Gio. Battista Ramusio. Delle Navigationi et Viaggi Raccolte da M.G.'B.R., etc.
3 vols. Vol. iii. Venice : 1606. fol.
Contains (fol. 398) an Italian translation of G. de Veer's ' Three Voyages.'
J. Theodore De Bry and J. Israel De Bry. India Orientalis. Oppenheim :
1619. fol.
Part iii. contains G. de Veer's narrative, and Part xi. contains Hessel
Gerrits' tract on the history of Spitsbergen.
Gillis Ioosten Saeghman. Verscheyde Oost Indiscbe Voyagien met de
Beschrijvingen van Indien. Amsterdam : various dates. 4to.
This is a collection of various pamphlets printed by Saeghman, which are
here bound together behind a specially engraved title-page. Among the
contents are included Barents' voyage of 1596-7, Raven's Journal,
Vander Brugge's Journal, and the Journal of the winterers of 1634-5 who
died. B.M. 10,057, dd. 50.
Purchas his Pilgrimes. 4 vols. London : 1625. fol.
The third volume contains various accounts of " Northerne Navigations."
Isaac Commelijn. Begin ende Voortgangh vande Neederlandtsche Oostindische
Compagnie. With Map. Amsterdam : s.d. (1644). Oblong 4to. B.M.
566, f. 16-19.
Other editions in 1645 and 1646.
Vol. i. contains G. de Veer's account of Barents' voyage of 1596.
R.A. Constantin de Reneville. Recueil des Voyages qui ont servi a l'etablisse-
ment et aux progrez de la Compagnie des Indes orientales, formee Dans les
Provinces- Unies des Pais-Bas. 10 vols. 2nd edition. Rouen : 1725. 12mo.
Vol. i. contains a paraphrase of G. de Veer's account of Barents' voyage of
1596 (pp. 86-209).
An English translation of vols. i. and ii. is ■ A Collection of Voyages
undertaken by the Dutch East India Company, etc' London: 1703. 8vo.
John Churchill. A Collection of Voyages and Travels. 6 vols. London:
1704-32. fol. Third and best edition. London : 1744-46. fol.
Vol. ii. contains the Journal of the seven Dutch Winterers of 1634-35
(p. 427) ; the story of the shipwreck in 1646 (p. 429) ; Le Peyrere's account of
Greenland (p. 470). Vol. iv. (p. 808) contains 'God's Power and Providence,'
and the Muscovy Company's map.
An Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries. I. Sir John Narborough's
Voyage. II. Captain J. Tasman's Discoveries. III. Captain J. Wood's Attempt
to discover a North-East Passage. IV. F. Martens' Observations made in
Greenland, and other Northern Countries. London : 1711. 8vo.
Bibliography
307
J. F. Bernard. Recueil de Voiages au Nord. 10 vols. Amsterdam : 1715-38.
12mo. B.M. 1045, a. 3.
Vol. i. contains "Quelques Memoires pour ceux qui vont a, la Peche de la
Baleine " (pp. 73 and 189), and " La Peyrere's Relation du Greenland " (p. 85).
Vol. ii. contains a French translation of Martens' voyage.
John Harris. Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotbeca. Or a complete
Collection of Voyages and Travels. Now carefully revised, etc. 2 vols, in 4.
London : 1744-48. fol.
Vol. ii. («) pp. 387-398, contains information about Spitsbergen and the
whale-fishery, but all of it at second hand.
Johann Reinhold Forster. Geschichte der Entdeckungen und Schiffahrten im
Norden. Frankfurt a. d. Oder: 1784. 8vo. English translation, London:
1786. 4to.
Contains an abstract of the usual voyages from Barents to Phipps.
J. L. H. S. de Perthes. Histoire des Naufrages. 3 vols. Paris: an. iii. (1795).
8vo. 2nd Edition, revised and enlarged by J. B. B. Eyries. 3 vols. Paris :
1821. 12mo. B.M. 304, f. 9 and 1424 c.
Contains paraphrases of Barents' voyage of 1596-97, the Smeerenburg
wintering in 1634-35, and the adventures of four Russian sailors in 1743.
A German translation of part of this collection is ' Geschichte der Schiff-
briiche und Uiberwinterungen in Gronland, Nova Zembla und Spitzbergen.'
Prag : 1798. 8vo. This also contains a translation of • God's Power and
Providence,' etc. B.M. 10,460, a. 3.
John Pinkerton. A General Collection of the best and most interesting Voyages,
etc. 17 vols. London : 1808-14. 4to.
Vol. i. contains the Journal of the seven Dutch winterers of 1634-35
(p. 535) ; the story of the shipwreck in 1646 (p. 537) ; Phipps' Journal
(p. 538) ; P. L. Le Roy's " Russian Sailors in East Spitsbergen " (p. 595) ; and
Dr. S. Bacstrom's Voyage to Spitsbergen in 1780 (p. 614).
J. F. Laharpe. Abrege de l'Histoire Generate des Voyages [Prevost's]. 24 vols.
Paris: 1816. 8vo.
Vols. 15 and 16 contain the accounts of the voyages of Barents in 1596 and
of Phipps in 1773.
Sir John Barrow. Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Regions,
from the year 1818 to the present time, abridged and arranged from the
original Narratives. London : 1846. 8vo.
Chap, iii., Buchan's Voyage ; chap, v., Sabine's visit to Spitsbergen ;
chap, ix., Parry's Voyage.
20-
\\t>r
t#«** in
308 Bibliography
HISTORIES OF AND BOOKS ON THE WHALE FISHERY AND
SPITSBERGEN GENERALLY, AND ON THE GEOGRAPHY
OF SPITSBERGEN.
J. K. J. de Jonge. De opkomst van het Nederlandsch gezag in Oost-Indie, 1595-
1610. Verzameling van onuitgegeven stukken uit het Oud-Koloniaal Archief.
The Hague and Amsterdam : 1862, etc. 8vo. B.M. 9056, gg.
Nicolaas van Wassenaee. Historisch verhael alder ghedenck-weerdichste
geschiedenisse die hier en daer in Europa . . . van de beginne des jaers 1621
. . . (tot Octobri . . . 1632) voorgevallen syn. 21 deel. Amsterdam :
1622-35. 4to. B.M. 9073, b. 4.
Contains many contemporary documents relating to the whale-fishery at
Spitsbergen.
Lieuwe Aitzema. Saken van Staet en Oorlogh [1621-1669]. 6 vols. The
Hague: 1669-72. Fol. B.M. 1310, 1. 1-6.
Cornelius Gisbebt Zorgdbageb. Bloeyende Opkomst der Aloude en Heden-
daagsche Groenlandsche Visschery. Met eene hist. Beschryving der Nordere
Gemesten, voornamentlyk Groenlandt, Yslandt, Spitsbergen, Nova Zembla,
Jan Mayen Eilandt, de Straat Davis en al't aanmerklykste in t'Ontdekking
deezer Landen. Met byvoeging van de Walvischvangst, etc. Door Abraham
Moubach. With 6 Maps and 7 Plates. Amsterdam : 1720. 4to. B.M. 572,
c. 30.
. (2nd edition.) Met aanmerkelyke zaaken vermeerdert, nevens beschryving
van de Terreneufsche Bakkeljau-Visschery. With 6 Maps and 11 Plates.
The Hague : 1727. 4to.
. (3rd edition.) . Amsterdam : 1728. 4to.
. (German translation.) Alte und neue Gronlandische Fischerie und Wall-
fischfang . . . Beschreibung von Gronland, Island, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla,
Jan Mayen Eiland, der Strasse Davis u. a. ausgefertiget durch Abraham
Moubach. With Maps and Plates. Leipzig : 1723. 4to.
. (2nd edition.) Beschreibung des Gronlandischen Wallfischfangs und
Fischerey, nebst einer griindlichen Nachricht von dem Bakkeljau und Stock-
fischfang bey Terreneuf, etc. With Maps and Plates. Niirnberg : 1750. 4to.
. (3rd edition.) Niirnberg und Miinchen : 1752. 4to.
(English translation.) View of the Greenland Trade and Whale-fishery.
London : 1725. This is probably the following book.
Henby Elking. A view of the Greenland Trade and Whale-Fishery. (First
edition, 1722.) 2nd edition. London : 1725. 4to. B.M. 1028, h. 16 (9).
Gerket Van Sante. Alphabethische Naam-lyst van alle de Groenlandsche en
Straat-Davissche Commandeurs, die zedert het jaar 1700 op Greenland, en
Bibliography 309
zedert het jaar 1719 op de Straat-Davis voor Holland en andere provincien,
hebben gevaaren. Haarlem : 1770. 4to. B.M. 10,460, f. 22.
Hon. Daines Barrington. The possibility of approaching the North Pole.
London : 1775. 4to.
. Third edition, with an Appendix containing papers on the same subject
arid on a North-West Passage by Colonel Beaufoy. London : 1828. 8vo.
. Miscellanies. London : 1781. 4to.
T. Pennant. Introduction to the Arctic Zoology. 3 vols. London : 1792. 4to.
Information about Spitsbergen, vol. 3, pp. cxxxii. and cxlvii.
S. B. J. Noel de la Moriniere. Memoire sur l'antiquite de la Peche de la
Baleine, par les Nations europeennes. Bouen : [1795 ?]. 8vo. B.M. b. 335.
Contains information about the Basque whalers.
C. Bernard de Eeste. Histoire des Peches, des decouvertes et des etablissemens
des Hollandois dans les mers du nord. 3 vols. 2nd edition. Paris : an ix.
(1801). 8vo. B.M. 150, d. 13.
Chap, xxxv., Du Spitsberg, with map. It contains nothing original.
J. Le Molne de l'Espine and Isaac de Long. De Koophandel van Amsterdam
en andre Nederlandsche Steden. 4 vols. 10th edition. Amsterdam : 1801-2.
8vo. B.M. 8245, dd. 24.
Yol. ii. 283-309. Account of the Dutch whale-fishery.
W. Scoresby. An Account of the Arctic Regions. 2 vols. Edinburgh. 1820. 8vo.
R. G. Bennet and J. van Wijk. Verhandeling over de Nederlandsche
Ontdekkingen in Amerika, Australia, de Indien, en de Poollanden, etc., with
map of Spitsbergen. Utrecht : 1827. 8vo.
Bound and issued in Nieuwe Verhandelingen van het Provinciaal Utrechtsch
Oenootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen. Vol. vi. Utrecht : 1830-
8vo. B.M. Ac. 970.
A. Charitonow. Die russischen Promyschleniks auf Grumant (Spitsbergen) ;
ihre Sagen und Ueberlieferungen.
Erman's Archivfur wissenschaftliche Kunde von Bussland. Berlin : 1851.
Pp. 154-175.
Captain Jansen of the Dutch Navy. Notes on the Ice between Greenland and
Nova Zembla ; being the Results of Investigations into the Records of Early
Dutch Voyages in the Spitzbergen Seas. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical
Society, vol. ix. (London), 1864-65, pp. 163-181.
A good short account of the Dutch whale-fishery.
A. Petermann. Spitzbergen und die arktische Central-Region. Petermanns
Geographische Mittheilungen, Ergiinzungsheft, No. 16. Gotha : 1865. 4to.
N. Duner and A. E. Nordenskiold. Anteckningar till Spetsbergens Geografl. Med
en Karta. K. Svensha Vetens. Ahad. Handlingar, vi. No. 5. Stockholm :
1865. 4to.
. (English translation.) Explanatory remarks in illustration of a map of
Spitzbergen. Stockholm : 1865. 8vo.
A. E. Nordenskiold. Utkast till Spetsbergens Geologi. K. Svensha Vetens.
Ahad. Handlingar, vi. No. 7. Stockholm. 1866. 4to.
3 1 o BibliogmpJiy
X. Dunee and A. E. Nordenskpold. Forberedande Undersdkningar rorande
utforbarheten af en Gradmatning pa Spitsbergen. K. Svenska Vetens. Akad.
Handlingar, vi. No. 8. Stockholm : 1866. 4to.
A. Ch. Grad. Esquisse physique des iles Spitzbergen et du Pole Arctique. Paris :
1866. 8vo. B.M. 10,460, d. 17.
A compilation based on the published results of the Swedish expeditions.
John Lothrop Motley. History of the United Netherlands from the Death of
William the Silent to the Twelve Years' Truce — 1609. 4 vols. New York :
1868. 8vo.
Chap, xxxvi. and the authorities quoted deal with the rise of Dutch enter-
prize in the northern seas.
M. Lindemann. Die arktische Fischerei der Deutschen Seestadte. Petermanns
Geog. Mitt., Erg. Heft, No. 26. Gotha, 1869. 4to.
Samukl Mijller. Mare Clausum. Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Rivaliteit
van Engeland en Nederland in de zeventiende Eeuw. Amsterdam : 1872.
8vo. B.M. 6006, i. 17 (1).
Clements R. Markham. The Threshold of the Unknown Region. London:
1873. 8vo. 4th edition. London : 1876. 8vo.
Contains a sketch of Spitsbergen history.
SAMUEL MtTLLEB. Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie : Utrecht. 1874. 8vo.
S. U. van- Campen. The Dutch in the Arctic Seas. London : 1876. 8vo.
The first volume only was published.
(W.Hunt?). The Trade and Commerce of Hull. Hull : 1878. 8vo. B.M. 8228,
b. 40.
i''. de Has. Het doopregister van Spitsbergen volgens Reisjournalen en Kaarten.
Tijd. Aardrijksk. Genoots. Amsterdam : 1879. Pp. 1-30.
Pbiedbich von Hellwald. Im ewigen Eis. Geschichte der Nordpol-Fahrten von
den iiltesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart. Stuttgart: 1881. 8vo. B.M.
10,460, ee. 38.
Clements B. Mabkham. On the Whale Fishery of the Basque Provinces of
Spain, /'roc. Zoological Soc. (London), December 13, 1881.
A. I']. NoBDENBKIOLD. Kemarks made at a meeting of the Swedish Geographical
Society, March 21, 188-1, with reference to the objections made by Russia and
Holland to the proposal of Sweden to annex Spitsbergen. Ymer, vol. iv.
A pp. xvi.
F. E. Beddabd. A liook of Whale. 1 -. (Progressive Science Series.) London:
L900. 8vo.
SlB Mautin CONWAY. Some unpublished Spitsbergen MSS. Geographical
Jour im/ (London), June, 1900.
Bibliography 311
PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO EVENTS IN SPITSBERGEN.
ARRANGED IN THE ORDER OF THEIR OCCURRENCE.
N.B. — Tke dates preceding each err ion, hut to
records.
1596. Willem Barents. Extract from L.- _ from May 18 fee Tmtj I. 1596,
■ the discovery of Spitsbergen.
Printed in Hessel Gen-its' ' Histoire du pays Spitsbergen,' y;
and reprinted in Mullers ' Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. f
1596. Geeeit i>e Veee. Vaeraehtighe Besehrijvinghe van drie St. I hi
werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort, drie jaeren acbter malcanderen dev.-
Hollandtsche ende Zeelandteehe schepen by noorden, Noorweghen. Moscovia.
ende Tartaria, na de coninckrijeken van Catthay ende Chii - -uede
vande opdoeninghe vande Weygats. Nova Senile '.a, ei van't landt 0)
grade, dat men acht G-r. ;. etc. Amsterdam: IS -
Oblong iio. B.M. 566, f. 13 (2) : 436, b. 18 (3>
1596. . Latin translation by C. C. A. ^Carolus Clusius Atrebatan^ s
Diarium nauticum seu vera descriptio trium navigationum admiran-
darum . . . turn ut detecta fuerint Weygatz fretum. Nova Zenibla, et
Begio sub SO gradu sita quam Groenlandiam esse censent, quaru nullus
unquam adijt. Amsterdam: 1596. -ito. Piffc Camus. ' Memoire." pp.
197, 205 ; Tiele, ' Memoire,' p. 103.
1596. . Translated by "William Phillip. The True and perfect Descrip-
tion of three Voyages, so strange arid woonderfull. . . . Doue and per-
formed three yeares, one ofter the other, by the Ships of Holland and
Zeland . . . shewing the discouerie of the Straights of "vVeigates, Noua
Zembla, and the Countrie lying vnder SO. degrees : etc. London : 1609.
Reprinted by the Hakluyt Society. Edited by C. T. Beke. London :
1S53. Svo. Another edition edited by Lieut. Koolemaus Beynen. Lon-
don : 1S76, Svo. There were numerous earlier reprints aud translations
published, eg. in the collections of Raumsio, De Bry. Saeghman, Purchas,
Commelijn, Beneville, Forster, Perthes, Laharpe, and others.
1596. Jan Cokxelisz. Bijf. Affidavit by J. 0. K. relating to the discovery
Spitsbergen, etc. Printed on pp. 23-26 of J. K. J. de Jonge's ' De
Opkomst van het Nederlandsch gong in Oost-Iudie," 1595-1610. Yerea-
meling van onuitgegeven stukken uit het Oud-Koloniaal Archief. The
Hague and Amsterdam : 1S62, etc. Svo.
1596. Affidavits made by Arent Martenssen of Antwerp and Anthoine Chs
Herman, ship's captain, of Leyden, describing the discovery of Spitsbc -
by Barents' expedition, in which they took part, in 1596.
Printed in Muller's ' Noordsche ^uie,' pp. 362, 368,
3 1 2 Bibliography
1596. Joannes Pontanus, Professor at Harderwijk. Rerum et urbis Amsteloda-
mensium Historia. Amst. sub cane vigilanti excudit Judocus Hondius.
Amsterdam : 1611. Fol. B.M. 794, i. 6. Dutch translation. Amster-
dam : 1614. B.M. 795, i. 7 (1).
Vide, Tiele, ' Memoire,' p. 195.
1596. J. K. J. de Jonge. Nova Zembla : De Voorwerpen door de neder-
landische Zeevaarders na hunne Overwintering aldaar in 1597 achterge-
laten en in 1871 door Kapitein Carlsen teruggevonden. The Hague :
1872. 8vo.
1596. . Nova Zembla: De voorwerpen door de nederlandsche Zeevaaders
na hunne Overwintering op Nowaja-Semlja bij hun Vertrek in 1597
achtergelaten en in 1876 door Ch* Gardiner, Esq'., aldaar teruggevonden.
The Hague: 1877. 8vo.
1596. Sib Mabtin Conway. How Spitsbergen was discovered. Geographical
Journal (London), February, 1903. Eeprinted in this volume.
1603. William Gobden. A Voyage performed to the Northwards, Anno 1603,
in a ship of the burthen of fiftie tunnes, called the Grace, and set forth at
the cost and charges of the Worshipfull Francis Cherie. Written by
William Gorden ; being the first Voyage to Cherie Island ; etc. Printed
in Purchas' • Pilgrims,' lib. iii. chap. xiii. p. 566.
1603, 1607, 1610-22. Thomas Edge. A briefe Discouerie of the Northerne Dis-
coueries of Seas, Coasts, and Countries, deliuered in order as they were
hopefully begunne, and haue euer since happily beene continued by the
singular industrie and charge of the Worshipfull Society of Muscouia
Merchants of London, with the ten seuerall Voyages of Captaine Thomas
Edge the Authour.
Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 462-473.
1604-9. Jonas Poole. Diuers Voyages to Cherie Hand, in the yeeres 1604, 1605,
1606, 1608, 1609. Written by Ionas Poole.
Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' lib. iii. chap. xiii. pp. 556-566.
1607. Henby Hudson. Divers Voyages and Northerne Discoveries of that worthy
irrecoverable Discoverer, Master Henry Hudson. His Discoverie toward
the North Pole, set forth at the charge of certaine Worshipfull Merchants
of London, in May 1607. Written partly by John Playse, one of the
Company, and partly by H. Hudson.
In Purchas' 'Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 567-610. Reprinted in G. M.
Asher's 'Henry Hudson the Navigator' (Hakluyt Society). London:
8vo. 1860.
1607. H. C. Muephy. Henry Hudson in Holland. The Hague : 1859. 8vo.
1607. Sib Mabtin Conway. Hudson's Voyage to Spitsbergen in 1607. Geo-
graphical Journal (London), 1900, pp. 121-130. Reprinted in this book.
1610. Jonas Poole. A Voyage set forth by the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas
Smith, and the rest of the Muscouie Company, to Cherry Hand : and for
a further discouerie to be made towards the North-Pole, for the likelihood
of a Trade or a passage that way, in the Ship called the Amitie, of burthen
seuentie tuns ; in the which I Ionas Poole was Master, hauing fourteene
men and one boy : a.d. 1610.
Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 699.
Bibliography 313
1611. Jonas Poole. A briefe Declaration of this my Voyage of discouery to
Greeneland, and towards the West of it, as followeth : being set forth by
the right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith, Gouernour of the right Worship-
full Company of new Trades, etc. Written by Ionas Poole.
Printed in Purchas' 'Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 711. The Commissions of
Poole and Edge for 1611 (Poole's misprinted 1610) are in Purchas'
' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 707, 709.
1611-24. Corte Deductie ende Eemonstrantie van wegen de Bewinthebbers ende
Participanten vande respectiue oude Noortse Compagnien ouer Delft, Hoorn,
Enckhuijsen, Vlissingen, ende Vere, ouergegeuen aende Hooge Mogende
Heeren de Staten Generael der Vereenichde Nederlandtse Provintien.
Printed in Muller's ' Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. 393-402.
1612. Jonas Poole. A Eelation written by Ionas Poole of a Voyage to Green-
land, in the yeere 1612, with two ships, the one called the Whale; the
other the Sea-horse, set out by the Right Worshipfull the Muscouie
Merchants.
Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 713.
1612. Statement of Sir Thomas Smith, Gouner of y° Muscovie Companie. Septem-
ber 18, 1612.
British Museum, MS. Lansd. 142, f. 391.
1612-22. Thomas Edge. Dutch, Spanish, Danish disturbance, also by Hull men,
and by a new Patent, with the succeeding Successe and further Discoueries
till this present.
Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 466-470.
1612-13. Hessel Gekritsz. van Assum. Beschryvinghe vander Samoyeden
Landt in Tartarien Nieulijcks onder 't ghebiedt der Moscoviten gebracht.
Wt de Russche tale overgheset, Anno 1609. Met een verhael Vande
opsoeckingh ende ontdeckinge vande nieuwe deurgang ofte straet int
Noord-westen na de Rijcken van China ende Cathay. Ende Een Memoriael
gepresenteert aenden Connigh van Spaengien belanghende de ontdeckinghe
ende gheleghentheyt van 't Land ghenaemt Australia Incognita. Amster-
dam : 1612. 4to.
1612-13. . Descriptio ac delineatio Geographica Detectionis Freti Sive,
Transitu s ad Occasum supra terras Americanas, in Chinam atq ; Iaponem
ducturi. Recens investigati ab M. Henrico Hudsono Anglo. Item, Exegesis
Regi Hispanise facta, super tractu recens detecto, in quinta Orbisparte, cui
nomen Australis Incognita. Cum descriptione Terrarum Samoiedarum,
et Tingoesiorum, in Tartaria ad Ortum Freti VVaygats sitarum, nuperq ;
sceptro Moscovitarum adscitarum. Amsterdam : 1613. 4to. B.M. 1045,
e. 15 (1).
There were many editions, both in Dutch and Latin, much differing
from one another. Two Latin editions of 1613 contain passages relating
to Spitsbergen. Vide, Camus, 'Memoire,' p. 254; and Tiele, ' Memoire,'
pp. 179, 188. ' Detectio Freti ' of 1613 contains, 8thly, " De detectione
terra? polaris sub latitudine octoginta graduum." A later edition of the
same year contains the same tract, and also a treatise by Peter Plancius,
intitled " Refutatio rationum quibus Angli Dominationem piscationis ad
insulam Spitzbergensem . . . pretendere . . . conantur." It contains
likewise important maps of Spitsbergen and Novaja Zemlja.
3 1 4 Bibliography
A modern reproduction is the following: Detectio Freti Hudsoni.
H. Gerritz's collection of tracts by himself, Massa, and De Quir on the
N.E. and W. Passage, Siberia and Australia. Reproduced with the maps,
in photolith., in Dutch and Latin after the edition of 1612-13. With
English translation by P. J. Millard and essay on the origin and design
of this collection by S. Muller. Utrecht : 1878. 4to. B.M. 10,460, bb. 7.
1613. Hessel Gerritsz. van Assum. Histoire du pays nomme Spitsberghe mon-
strant comment qu'il est trouvee, son naturel et ses animauls, avecques.
La triste racompte des maux, que nos Pecheurs, taut Basques que Flamens,
ont eu a souffrir des Anglois, en Teste passe. l'An de grace 1613.
Escrit par H. G. A. Amsterdam : 1613. 4to. B.R.H. Pamflet, 2053.
B.M. 572, d. 2.
Reprinted in part xi. of De Bry's ' India Orientalis.' Vide Camus,
• Memoire,' p. 254, Tiele, ' Memoire,' p. 195. A facsimile edition was pub-
lished by Muller (Amsterdam : 1872. 4to). Extracts of the original are
published in Muller's " Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. 364, 369. An Eng-
lish translation is included in Sir Martin Conway's ' Spitsbergen.' London
(Hakluyt Society), 1902. 8vo.
1613. A Breife Narration of the discouerie of the Northerne Seas, and the Coasts
and Contries of those parts as it was first begunn and continewed by the
singuler Industrie and charge of the Company of Muscouie Merchants of
London. An answer to the complaint of the Lowe Countries touching
the niwe fishing of the whales vppon the coast of Grceneland by the
English Merchants of the Muscovy company. 13 Jan. 1613.
British Museum, MS. 14,027, f. 171. A modern copy of this docu-
ment is in the British Museum, MS. 33,837, f. 70.
1613. William Baffin. A Journall of the Voyage made to Greenland with sixe
English ships and a Pinnasse, in the yeere 1613. Written by Master
William Baffin.
Printed in Purchas' 'Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 716-720. Reprinted in
C. R. Markham's 'The Voyages of Wm. Baffin' (Hakluyt Society). Lon-
don: 1881. 8vo.
1613. Robert Fotherbye (?). A Short Discourse "of a Voyage made in the Yeare
of Our Lord 1613 to the Late Discovered Countrye of Greenland ; and a
Breife Discription of the same Countrie, and the Cothodities ther raised
to the Aduenturers.
MS. in the library of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester,
Mass. Published, with Introduction and Notes by Samuel F. Haven, in
the American Antiquarian Society's Transactions, vol. iv. (1860), p. 285 ;
also privately printed, Boston: 1860. 8vo. Reprinted in C. R. Mark-
ham's ' The Voyages of Wm. Baffin ' (Hakluyt Society), p. 54. London :
1881. 8vo.
1613. Statement by the States General in their meeting of 16th April, 1615, of
their claim to the right to fish on the coasts of Spitsbergen.
Printed in S. Muller, ' Mare Clausum,' Bijlage E. p. 363.
1614. Instructions from the States-General to the " Commandeur " of the Dutch
whaling-fleet for the voyage of 1614. Printed in Muller's ' Noordsche
Compagnie,' p. 370.
Bibliography 3 1 5
1614. Sir Martin Conway. Joris Carolus, discoverer of Edge Island. Geo-
graphical Journal (London), vol. xvii. (1901) pp. 623-632 ; and vol. xviii.
(1901) p. 544. Reprinted in the present volume.
1614. Robert Fotherbye. A Voyage of Discouerie to Greenland, etc., Anno
1614. Written by Ro. Fotherbye. Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii.
pp. 720-728.
Reprinted in C. R. Markham's 'The Voyages of Wm. Baffin' (Hakluyt
Society), pp. 80-102. London : 1881. 8vo.
1615. . A true report of a Voyage Anno 1615, for Discouerie of Seas,
Lands, and Hands, to the Northwards ; as it was performed by Robert
Fotherbie, in a Pinnasse of twentie tunnes called the Richard of London :
set forth at the charge of the Right Worshipfull Sir Thomas Smith,
Knight, my very good Master, and Master Richard Wiche, Gouernours :
and the rest of the Worshipfull Company of Merchants, called the Merchants
of New Trades and Discoueries, trading into Moscouia, and King James
his New Land.
Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 728-731 ; and followed
(p. 731) by a letter from Fotherby to Edge, dated July 15, 1615, written
in Crosse Road.
1615-27. Extracts from the Resolutions of the States General relating to Dutch
whalers in the Spitsbergen waters in the years 1615-1627. Printed in
Muller's ' Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. 380-386.
1616. Instructions from the States General for the Dutch Whaling Fleet in 1616.
Muller, 'Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. 372-377.
1617. Humble Petition, etc., of the English Merchants for discovery of newe trades.
22 Jan. 1617. British Museum, MS. Lands. 142, f. 389.
1617. William Heley. A letter dated 12th of August, 1617. Printed in
Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 732.
1617. Affidavits by Dutch sailors, who were present in Spitsbergen in 1617, relative
to the trouble with the English that year. Printed in Muller's ' Noordsche
Compagnie,' pp. 402-406.
1618. Letters from Robert Salmon, Th. Sherwin, and James Beversham, com-
municated by W. Heley and printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 733.
1618. Papers connected with the Dutch Embassy of 1618-19 to James I. respect-
ing the troubles in Spitsbergen in the summer of 1618. Printed in
S. Muller's 'Mare Clausum,' Bijlagen G. and H., pp. 369-376.
1618. Affidavits connected with the troubles at Spitsbergen, reprinted from English
State Papers in Sir Martin Conway's ' Spitsbergen.' London (Hakluyt
Society), 1902. 8vo.
1619. Letters from John Chambers and Robert Salmon to W. Heley. Printed in
Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 734.
1619-60. Sir Martin Conway. The Rise and Fall of Smeerenburg, Spitsbergen.
Privately printed ; 8.1. et d. Reprinted in this volume.
1620. Letters from John Catcher and Robert Salmon to W. Heley. Printed in
Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. pp. 734, 735.
1621. A Letter from Robert Salmon to W. Heley. Printed in Purchas' ' Pilgrims,'
vol. iii. p. 735.
3 1 6 Bibliography
1623. Letters from Nathaniel Fanne, Master Catcher, and William Goodlard to
W. Heley. Printed in Purcbas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. iii. p. 736.
1630-31. Edward Pellham. God's Power and Providence : shewed in the Miracu-
lous Preservation and Deliverance of eight Englishmen, left by mischance
in Green-land, Anno 1630, nine moneths and twelve dayes. . . . With a
Description of the chiefe Places and Parities of that barren and cold
Countrey, ... as also with a map of Green-land. London : 1631. 4to.
B.M. 982, a. 24.
Eeprinted in Churchill's Collection, vol. iv. p. 808 ; and in A. White's
' Spitzbergen ' (Hakluyt Society). London : 1855. French translation in
Perthes' Collection.
1632-3. Jean Ybolicq. Documents connected with Jean Vrolicq's voyages to
Spitsbergen and his disputes with the Dutch whalers. Printed in
Muller's ' Noordsche Compagnie,' pp. 406-423.
1632-34. Db. E. T. Hamy. Les Francais au Spitzberg au XVII. siecle. Bulletin
de geographie historique et descriptive. Paris : 1895. 8vo.
1633-4. Jacob Segebsz. van deb Bbugge. Journael, Of Dagh-Register, gehouden
by Seven Matroosen, In haer Overwinteren op Spitsbergen in Maurits-Bay,
Gelegen in Groenlandt, t'zedert het vertreck van de Visschery-Schepen de
Geoctroyeerde Noordtsche Compagnie, in Nederlandt, zijnde den 30.
Augusty, 1633, tot de wederkomst der voorsz. Schepen, den 27. May, Anno
1634. Beschreven door den Bevelhebber Jacob Segersz. van der Brugge.
Amsterdam (Saeghman), s.d. (1634). 4to. With woodcut illustrations.
B.M. 10,460, bbb. 10.
Vide Tiele, ' Memoire,' p. 277. An abstract will be found in Zorgdrager
(p. 257, German edition). An edition not known to Tiele has the follow-
ing erroneous title : ' Twee Journalen, yeder gehouden by Seven,' etc.
B.M. 10,460, bbb. 13. Three editions known to Tiele are all in the British
Museum. This tract is included in Saeghman's Collection. Vide Tiele,
'Ned. Bibl.' p. 128. B.M. 10,057, dd. 50.
An English translation is included in Sir Martin Conway's ' Spits-
bergen.' London (Hakluyt Society), 1902. 8vo.
1634. Documents concerning English troubles in Spitsbergen in 1634 are reprinted
from English State Papers in Sir Martin Conway's ' Spitsbergen.' London
(Hakluyt Society), 1902. 8vo.
1634-5. [Andbew Johnson ?]. Twee Journalen, Het Eerste gehouden by de Seven
Matroosen, op het Eylandt Mauritius, in Groenlandt, In den Jare 1633,
en 1634, in haer Overwinteren, doch sijn al t'samen gestorven : En het
tweede gehouden by de Seven Matroosen, die op Spitsbergen Zijn Over-
wintert, en aldaer ghestorven, in den Jare 1634. Amsterdam (Saeghman),
s.d. (1635). 4to.
Frequently reprinted. English translation published in Churchill's
Collection, vol. ii. p. 427 ; and in Pinkerton's Collection, vol. i. p. 535,
and reprinted in Sir Martin Conway's ' Spitsbergen.' London (Hakluyt
Society), 1902. 8vo. Vide Tiele, « Memoire,' p. 276.
1639. Dibck Albeetsz. Raven. Iovrnael ofteBeschrijvinghe vande reyse ghedaen
by den Commandeur Dirck Albertsz. Raven, nae Spitsbergen, in den Jare
1639 ten dienste vande E. Herren Bewindt-hebbers van de Groenlandt sche
BibliograpJiy 3 1 7
Cornpagnie tot Hoorn . . . door hem selver beschreven. Hoorn (J. Jz
Deutel): 1646. 4to.
Vide Tiele, 'Memoire,' p. 213 ; Ned. Bibl., p. 40.
Before 1646. Isaac de la Peyrere. Relation dv Greenland. Paris (Chez
Avgvstin Covrbe) : 1647. 12mo.
Frequently reprinted and incorporated in other books. Vide C. C. A.
Gosch, 'Danish Arctic Expeditions' (Hakluyt Society), vol. ii. p. lix.
London : 1897. 8vo. The English translation was printed in White's
' Spitz bergen and Greenland ' (Hakluyt Society) : London, 1855 : 8vo, and
in Churchill's Collection.
1652. Richard Nicolson. " Wie aus der Beschreibung Richard Nicolson, eines
Englanders erhellet, welcher im Jahre 1652 seine Beschreibung von Spitz-
bergen und Nova Zembla an das Licht gab." Zorgdrager (German edition),
p. 187. Original Dutch edition, p. 158.
I can find no trace or other mention of this book.
1655. Hendricu Doncker's Atlas (Amsterdam, 1655), p. 79, gives local sailing
directions about Spitsbergen, and incidentally names many harbours and
anchorages. These directions are practically reprinted in Van Loon and
Vooght's Atlas published by J. Van Keulen (Amsterdam : 1687), pp. 78-81.
c. 1660. Captain Lancelott Anderson. An Account of Greenland.
A manuscript in the British Museum, Sloane 3986, ff. 78, 79. Printed
in the Geographical Journal, June, 1900, p. 629.
c. 1660. Gray. The manner of the Whale-fishing in Groenland. Given by
Mr. Gray to Mr. Oldenburg for the Society.
MS. in the Register Book of the Royal Society, November 4, 1663.
Printed and illustrations reproduced in the Geographical Journal for June,
1900, p. 632.
c. 1660. . Enquiries propounded to and answered by Mr. Gray ; that hath
been severall times in Groenland.
MS. in the Register Book of the Royal Society, February 25, 1662,
vol. ii. (1862, 1863), p. 156. Partly printed in the Geographical Journal
for June, 1900, p. 631.
1671. Friedrich Martens. Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise Beschrei-
bung, gethan im Jahr 1671, etc. Hamburg : 1675. 4to. B.M. 462, c. 25.
English translations, London, 1694, 1695, and in A. White's ' Spitz-
bergen' (Hakluyt Society). London: 1855. 8vo. Italian translation,
Venice, 1680. Dutch translations, Amsterdam, 1685, 1710, 1770, etc.
Martens' account formed the basis of most descriptions of Spitsbergen
for 150 years, and was reprinted in several collections of voyages.
1671. Herman Moll. Atlas Geographicus or a compleat system of Geography.
5 vols. London : 1711-17. 4to.
Vol. i. p. 125 et sqq. contains a description of Spitsbergen, chiefly
borrowed from Martens.
1676. Chart of the ice-pack between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, reproduced
in Royal Geographical Society's Proceedings, ix.p. 175 (London: 1864-65).
The authority is not stated, but appears to be some old Dutch record.
1682. P. P. v. S. Kort en opregt verhaal van het Droevig en avontuurlijk weder-
varen van Abraham Jansz. van Oelen, etc. No place (Leiden ?) : 1683 .
4to.
318 Bibliography
The author's initials are at p. 51, and the date is given on the illus-
trated frontispiece, " Gedrukt voor den Auteur, 1683." A copy belongs to
Mr. G. J. Honig of Zaandijk.
The enlarged 2nd edition is entitled ' De seldsaame en noit gehoorde
Wal-vis-vangst, Voorgevallen by St. Anna-Land in 't jaar 1682. den 7.
October. Midsgaders Een Pertinente Beschrijvinge van de geheele
Groen-Landse-Vaart. Verhandeld in Prose, en Versen. Nevens Verscheide
Saaken tot die Materie dienende ; Gelijk op d' and're sijde van dit Blad
Kan gesien vvorden. Door P : P : v : S. Med schoone Kop're Prentver-
beeldingen vercierd. Dese 2de. Druk, merkelijk verbetert, en, bij na de helft,
vermeerdert. Tot Leiden, in 't yaer 1684.' Leiden : 1684. 4to.
1693. De. E. T. Hamy. Une Croisiere franchise a la C6te Nord du Spitzberg en
t 1693. "With reproduction of contemporary map.
Bull, de Oeogr. Eist. et Descriptive, 1901, No. 1, p. 32. The account
is pieced together from contemporary documents.
1707. Clements R. Markham. On Discoveries east of Spitzbergen, with refe-
rence to the voyage of Giles. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical
Society, February, 1870, vol. xvii. p. 97.
1721-2. Johann Michael Kuhn. Lebens und Reise-Beschreibung . . . Dessen
Schiffahrten nach . . . Spitzbergen, etc. Gotha : 1741. 8vo. B.M. 791,
a. 30.
1743-49. Pierre Louis le Roy. Erzahlung der Begebenheiten vier Russischer
Matrosen, die durch einen Sturm zur Insel Ost Spitzbergen verschlagen
worden. Riga und Mietau : 1760. 8vo. B.M., B. 681 (4). 2nd edition,
1768. 8vo.
A French translation is included in the Perthes Collection ; also inde-
pendently published, Amsterdam and Paris, 1767 : 8vo. Dutch translation,
Amsterdam, 1768 : 8vo.
English Translation. A Narrative of the singular adventures of Four
Russian Sailors, who were cast away on the desert Island of East Spitz-
bergen. Together with Some Observations on the Productions of that
Island, etc. Translated from the German Original, at the desire of several
Members of the Royal Society. This is printed in the following volume :
J. von Staehlin Storcksburg, 'An Account of the new Northern Archi-
pelago lately discovered by the Russians in the seas of Kamtschatka and
Anadir.' Translated from the German Original. London : 1774. 4to.
B.M. 10,460, 66, 18. It was reprinted in Pinkerton's Collection, and in
the English translation of Perthes. Large extracts of it were included in
' Sandford and Merton.'
1758. Anton Rolandsson Martin. Dagbok h&llen vid en resa till Nordpolen eller
Spitsbergen, pa Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens omkostnad och med ett
Gronlandska Compagniet i Groteborg tillhbrande skepp ar 1758 fornittad
af Anton Rolandsson Martin. Ymer, i. p. 102. Stockholm : 1881. 8vo.
Part of this journal is translated in Passarge's • Nordenskiold,' p. 339.
1765-6. Gerhakd Friedrich Muller. Herrn von Tschitschagow, Russisch-
Kayserlichen Admirals, Reise nach dem Eissmeer. Nachrichten von dem
neuesten Schifffahrten im Eissmeer und in der Kamtschatkischen See seit
dem Jahr 1742, da die zweyte Kamtschatkische Expedition aufgehort hat.
St. Petersburg : 1793. 8vo.
Bibliography 319
1773. Captain the Hon. C. J. Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave). A Voyage
towards the North Pole, undertaken by His Majesty's Command. London :
1774. 4to.
Eeprinted in the Pinkerton, Laharpe, and Barrow Collections more or
less fully. The MS. Journal is in the British Museum (Kings 224).
The MS. Log is also in the British Museum (No. 8963).
1773. Captain A. H. Makkham. Northward Ho! Including a Narrative of
Captain Phipp's Expedition, by a Midshipman (T. Floyd). London : 1870.
8vo.
1780. S. Bacstrom. Account of a voyage to Spitzbergen in the year 1780.
Printed in Pinkerton's Collection, vol. i.
1801. Friedrich Gottlob Kohler. Reise ins Eismeer und nach den Kiisten von
Grbnland und Spitzbergen im Jahre 1801 nebst einer genauen Beschrei-
bung des Walfischfanges von Friedrich Gottlob Kohler, Seilermeister in
Pima. Leipzig : 1820. 8vo. B.M. 10,280, a. 13.
This is a description of a normal voyage of the period, made by a
Hamburg whaler. It contains nothing of interest about Spitsbergen.
1806. John Laing. A Voyage to Spitzbergen. London : 1815. 8vo. B.M.
980, f. 2. Other editions. Edinburgh : 1818 and 1820. 12mo.
Laing was surgeon in Scoresby's ship in 1806.
1818. Lieut. F. W. Beechey. Description of a view of the North Coast of
Spitzbergen now exhibiting in the large Rotunda of H. A. Barker's Pano-
rama, painted from drawings taken by Lieut. Beechey. London : 1819.
8vo. B.M. 10,025, d. 9.
1818. Captain F. W. Beechey. A Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole,
performed in His Majesty's ships "Dorothea" and "Trent," under the
command of Captain David Buchan, r.n., 1818. London : 1843. 8vo.
Containing, as Appendix, a letter from Captain Sabine to Davies
Gilbert, m.p., dated February 8, 1826. See also Barrow's Voyages.
1818. Thomas A. Latta, M.D. Observations on Ice-bergs, made during a short
Excursion in Spitzbergen. Edinburgh Philosophical Journal (Edinburgh,
1820), pp. 237-243.
Dr. Latta was surgeon on Scoresby's ship in the year 1818. He gives
an account of a visit to, and traverse across, one of the " Seven Icebergs."
1821. M. W. Mandt. Observationes ... in itinere Groenlandico facta? s.l. 1822.
Svo. B.M. 7385, a. (1).
1821-2. [R. P. Gillies], Tales of a voyager to the Arctic Ocean. First and
Second Series. London : 1826 and 1829. 12mo. B.M. N. 382 and N. 660 (1).
1822. W. Scoresby. Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery, including
researches and discoveries on the Eastern Coast of Greenland in 1822.
Edinburgh: 1823. 8vo.
1823. D. C. Clavering. Journal of a Voyage to Spitzbergen and the East Coast
of Greenland in H.M.S. "Griper." Edited by J. Smith. London: 1830.
8vo.
1823. Sir Edward Sabine. An Account of experiments to determine the figure
of the earth by means of the pendulum vibrating seconds in different
latitudes. London : 1825. 4to.
The Visit to Spitsbergen is described, pp. 148, 149.
320 Bibliography
1825. Sir Edward Sabine. On the measurement of an Arc of the Meridian at
Spitzbergen. The Quarterly Journal of Science and Arts (Royal Insti-
tution), vol. xxi. (London: 1826), pp. 101-108. 8vo.
1827. Admiral Sir William Edward Parry. Narrative of an Attempt to reach
the North Pole, in Boats fitted for the purpose, and attached to H.M. Ship
"Hecla" in 1827. London : 1828. 4to.
See also Barrow's Voyages and numerous later compilations on arctic
travel and exploration for accounts of the same voyage.
1827. Prof. B. M. Keilhau. Reise i Ost og West Finmarken samt til Beeren-
Eiland og Spitsbergen i Aarene 1827 og 1828. With Maps and Plates.
Christiania : 1831. 8vo. B.M. 1427 b.
1827. Dezos de la Roqttette. Notice biographique sur la Tie et les Travaux de
Prof. Keilhau. Paris : 1838. 8vo.
1827. Barto von Lowenigh. Reise nach Spitzbergen. Aachen and Leipzig : 1830
8vo.
The substance of this book was reprinted in Petermanns Mittheil-
ungen, Erg. Heft, No. 16. Gotha : 1865. There are references to Keilhau
and Lowenigh in R. Everest, ' A Journey through Norway,' pp. 96, 99,
and 134. London: 1829. 8vo.
1838-9. Xavier Marmier. Voyages de la Commission Scientifique du Nord
en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg, et aux Feroe, pendant les annees
1838, 1839 et 1840, sur la Corvette La Recherche, commandee par
M. Fabvre, Lieutenant de Vaisseau; Publies par ordre du Roi sous la
direction de M. Paul Gaimard, President de la Commission scientifique
du Nord. Relation du Voyage. 2 vols. Paris : s.d. 8vo.
1838-9. Xavier Marmier. Letters sur le Nord. Paris : 1840. 8vo.
1838-9. C. Martins. Du Spitsberg au Sahara. Paris : 1865. 8vo.
And in Le Tour du Monde, Nos. 287, 288. Paris : 1865.
1839. Leonie D'Aunet. Voyage d'une femme au Spitzberg. 2nd edition. Paris :
1855. 8vo.
See notices in Bentley's Miscellany, 1858, p. 33, and the Eclectic
Magazine, 1858, p. 187.
1841? A. Zoncada. Lettere sulla Dannimarca e lo Spitzberg. Milan : 1841.
I have not been able to find a copy of this work.
1851-2. Russische Wallrossfanger und Pelzjager auf Spitzbergen in den Jahren
1851 und 1852.
Erman's Archiv fur wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland. Berlin,
1854, pp. 260-265.
1855. E. Evans and W. Sturge. Notes on the birds of W. Spitzbergen, as
observed in 1855. Ibis (London), 1859, pp. 166-174.
1856. The Earl of Dufferin. Letters from High Latitudes, being some account
of a voyage, in 1856, in the schooner yacht " Foam," to Iceland, Jan
Meyen, and Spitzbergen. London : 1857. 8vo. 10th edition. London :
1895. 8vo.
1858-9. James Lamont. Seasons with the Sea-horses ; or Sporting Adventures in
the Northern Seas. London : 1861. 8vo. B.M. 10,460, d. 7.
A long illustrated article on Lamont's work is " Sporting in Spitz-
bergen," by A. H. Guernsey, in Harper's Magazine, vol. 23, p. 606.
Bibliography ■ 321
1858-9, 1869-71. James Lamont. Yachting in the Arctic Seas; or Notes of Five
Voyages of Sport and Discovery in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergcn and
Novaya Zemlya. London : 1876. 8vo.
1858-70. A. Leslie. The Arctic Voyages of A. E. Nordenskiold (1858-1879).
London: 1879. 8vo.
1861. Karl Chydenius. Om den Svenska expeditionen till Spetsbergen ar 1861.
K. Vetens. Akad. (Stockholm), 1862, pp. 89-111.
Translation in Petermanns Oeog. Mitt. (Gotha), 1863, pp. 24-27, 47,
212, 401. Vide Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xiii.
pp. 658-662.
1861. Kabl Chydenius. Svenska Expeditionen till Spetsbergen ar 1861 under
ledning af Otto Torell. Ur deltagarnes anteckningar och andra handlingar
skildrad af K. Chydenius. Stockholm : 1865. 8vo.
German translation in Passarge's volume.
1861. A. E. Nordenskiold. Geografisk och Geognostisk Beskrifning ofver
nordostra delarne af Spetsbergen och Hinlopen Strait. K. Svenska Vetens.
Akad. Handlingar, iv. No. 7. Stockholm : 1862. 4 to.
Translated in Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1864, pp. 127-135 and 208-215.
1861. C. W. Blomstranj). Geognostiska Iakttagelser under en ltesa till Spets-
bergen ar 1861. K. Svenska Vetens. Akad. Handlingar, iv. No. 6. Stock-
holm: 1864. 4to.
Translation in Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1865, pp. 191-195.
1861. A. E. Nordenskiold and D. G. Lindhagen. Geografiska Ortsbestamningar
pa Spetsbergen. K. Svenska Vetens. Akad. Handlingar, iv. No. 5. Stock-
holm : 1863. 4to.
The results are also printed in Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1864, pp. 14, 15.
1861. Dr. Otto Torell. Explorations in Spitsbergen, undertaken by the Swedish
Expedition in 1861, with the view of ascertaining tbe practicability of
the measurement of an Arc of the Meridian. Proceedings of the Royal
Society, xii. pp. 658-662. London : 1862-63. 8vo.
1861-4-8. 0. Torell and A. E. Nordenskiold. Die schwedischen Expeditionen
nach Spitsbergen und Biiren-Eiland ausgefuhrt in den Jahren 1861, 1864,
und 1868 unter Leitung von 0. Torell und A. E. Nordenskiold. Aus dem
Schwedischen iibersetzt von L. Passarge. Jena: 1869. 8vo.
1863-4. Svenska expeditionen till Spetsbergen och Jan Mayen, utforda under aren
1863 och 1864, af N. Duner, A. J. Malmgren, A. E. Nordenskjbld, och A.
Quennerstadt. Stockholm : 1867. 8vo.
German translation included in Passarge's volume.
1863. Dr. Otto Torell. Extract of a Letter to General Sabine, dated from Copen-
hagen, Dec. 12, 1863. Proceedings of the Royal Society, xiii. pp. 83, 84.
London : 1863-4. 8vo.
1861. Captain C. Skogman of the Swedish Navy. Completion of the preliminary
survey of Spitzbergen, undertaken by the Swedish Government with the
view of ascertaining the practicability of the measurement of an arc of
the meridian. In a letter addressed to General Sabine . . . dated Stock-
holm, Nov. 21, 1864. Proceedings of the Royal Society, xiii. pp. 551-553.
Loudon: 1863-64. 8vo.
C. 2 1
322 Bibliography
1804. Alfred Newton. Notes on the Birds of Spitsbergen.
Ibis (London : 1865), pp. 199-219, 496-525.
1864. Boat Voyage along the Coast of Spitsbergen, in 1864. Translated from the
'Tromso Tidende.' Proceedings of the Boyal Geographical Society, vol.
ix. pp. 308-312. London : 1864-65.
1867. W. C. Brogger and N. Bolfsen. Fridtiof NanseD, 1861-93. English trans-
lation. London : 1896. 8vo.
1868. A. E. Nordenskiold. 1868 ars Svenska Polarexpeditionen under ledning
af A. E. Nordenskjold och Fr. v. Otter. Framtiden (Stockholm, 1869),
pp. 642-657.
Translations in Passarge's volume, and in Petermanns Oeog. Mitt., 1868,
pp. 298-304. Vide Boyal Geographical Society Proceedings, xiii. pp. 151-
165 ; and E.G.S. Journal, xxxix. pp. 357-378.
1868. Th. M. Fries and C. Nystrom. Polarexpeditionen ar 1868. Reseskizzer.
Stockholm: 1869. 8vo.
1868. A. E. Nordenskiold. Astronomiska ortbestainningar under Svenska
Polarexpeditionen, 1868. Ofversight af K. Svenska Vetens. Ahad.
Forhandlingar (Stockholm : 1870), pp. 569-580.
1868. K. Koldewey. Die Erste Deutsche Nordpolar-Expedition im Jahre 1868.
Petermanns Geog. Mitt., Erganzungsheft, No. 28. Gotha : 1871.
1870. M. Th. von Heuglin. Reisen nach dem Nordpolarmeer in den Jahre
1870 und 1871. 3 vols.
Vol. i. Reise in Norwegen und Spitzbergen im Jahre 1870. Bruns-
wick : 1872-74. 8vo. See also Petermanns Mitt., 1870, pp. 422,423, and
•113-451.
1870. A. E. Nordenskiold. Redogorelse for den Sv. Polarex. ar 1872-73. Bihang
K.S. Yet. Ahad. llandl, 1875, Bd. 2, No. 10, p. 9, footnote.
Contains a brief account of Dr. Nathorst's expedition to Ice sound in 1870.
1872. Captain J. C. Wells. The Gateway to the Polynia. A voyage to Spitz-
bergen. London : 1873. Svo. B.M. 2370, e. 17.
This book contains a description of Mr. Leigh Smith's voyage in the
Samson in 1872.
1872. Admiral Max Freiherr Daubleosky von Sterneck und Ehrenstein.
Graf Wiltschek's Nordpolariahrt im Jahre 1872. Herausgegeben durch
das Hydrographische Amt der k.k. Oesterreichischen Kriegsmarine als
Beilagezu einem Heft der " Mittheilungen ausdem Gebiete des Seewesens"
fur 1874. Pola (Verlag des Hydrographischen Auites) : 1874.
1872. Trof. Hanns Hofer. Graf Wilczek's Nordpolarfahrt im Jahre 1872.
Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1874, pp. 219-228.
1S72. Prof. H. Mohn. Konig Karl-Land im Osten von Spitzbergen und seine
Erreichung und AufDahme durch Norwcgische Schiffer im Sommer 1872.
Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1873, pp. 121-130.
1872. Prof. H. Mohn. "Alberts " Expedition til Spetsbergen i Nov. og Dec. 1872.
Christiania : 1873. Svo.
Bibliography 323
IS7L'-.'!. A. E. Nokdenskiold. Redogtirelse for den Svenska Polarexpeditionen fir
1872-1873. K. S. Vetens. Akad. TIandl. Bihang, No. 18. Stockholm :
1875.
Translation in Peter matins Geog. Mitt. (Gotka : 1873), pp. 444-453.
1872-3. P. R. Kjellman. Svenska Polarexpeditionen ar 1872-3. Stockholm :
1875. 8vo.
L872-3. Aug. Wijkander. Astronomiska Observationer under den Svenska
Arktiska Expeditionen 1872-73. K. Svenska Vetens. Akad. Handlingar,
vol. xiii. No. 9. Stockholm : 1876. 4 to.
1872-3. E. Parent. Esplorazioni di Eugenio Parent alia Spitzbergen eseguite
colla 5" Spedizione Artica Svedese (1872-73). Cosmos. (Torino : 1877.)
Pp. 101-423.
1872-3. Oswald Heer. Die schwedischen Expeditionen zu Erforschung des hohen
Nordens vora Jahr 1870 und 1872 auf 1873. Zurich : 1871. 8vo. B.M.
10,631, ee. 16.
1873. English and Swedish Polar Expeditions. An account of Leigh Smith's
voyage in 1873. The Times (London), September 29, 1873, p. 12, coi. 2.
1873. Rev. A. E. Eaton. Notes on the Fauna of Spitsbergen. The Zoologist
(London), November, 1873, pp. 3762-3771, and January, 1874, pp. 3805-
3822.
1873. R. von Drasche-Wartinberg. Reise nach Spitzbergen im Sommer 1873.
(Privately printed.) Wien : 1874.
1874. The Marquis of Ormonde. A Short Cruise to Norway and Spitzbergen.
Good Words (London), November, 1895, p. 737.
1878. Den Norske Nordhavs-Expedition, 1876-8. (In Norwegian and English.)
Christiania: 1882. 4to.
Vol. i. Parts 4 and 5 relate to Spitsbergen. As to the same voyage,
vide Petermanns Geog. Mitt., 1878, pp. 80, 400, 478 ; and Erg. Heft, No.
63.
1878. Charles Boissevain. Story of the life and aspirations of L. R. Koolemans
Beynen. . . . Translated ... by M. M. (Mrs. Clements Markham). Lon-
don : 1885. 8vo. B.M. 10,759, b. 9.
1881. A. H. Cocks. Notes of a naturalist on the W. Coast of Spitzbergen. The
Zoologist (London), 1882, pp. 321, 378, 401.
1881. Clive Phillips Wolley. Trottings of a Tenderfoot : or a Sporting Visit to
the Columbian Fiords and Spitzbergen. London : 1884. 8vo. B.M. 10,470,
bb. 3.
1881. Abel Chapman. A Voyage to Spitzbergen and the Arctic Seas. Natural
History Transactions of Northumberland, etc., vol. viii. pp. 138-158.
Newcastlc-on-Tyne : 1884-89. 8vo.
1882. A. G. Nathorst. Redogtirelse for den tillsammans nied G. de Gecr ar 1882
foretagna geologiska Expeditionen till Spetsbergen.
K. S. Vetens. Akad. Handl. Bihang, vol. ix. No. 2. Stockholm : 1884.
1882. A. H. Cocks. An Autumn Visit to Spitzbergen. The Zoologist (London),
1883, pp. 393, 433, 479.
21 — 2
324 Bibliography
1882-3. Explorations internationales des Regions polaires 1882-83. Observations
i'aites au Cap Thordsen, Spitzberg, par l'Expeditiou suedoisc. Pablifos
par 1' Academic Royale des Sciences de Suede. 2 vols. Stockholm: 1887
and 1892. 4to.
1886-9. M. Lindeman. Kiikeuthals Spitzbergen fabrten. Das Ausland, vol. lxiii.
pp. 373-377. Stuttgart : 1890.
1888-9. Arnold Pike. A Winter in the Eightieth Degree (Spitsbergen). Pp.
343-351 of Abel Chapman's ' Wild Norway.' London: 1897. 8vo.
L889. Prof. Dr. Kukenthal. Bericbt iiber die von der Geographischen Gescll-
scbaft in Bremen in Jabre 1889 Veranslaltete Reise nach Ostspitzbergen
(Dr. Kiikeuthal und Dr. Walter). Petermanns Gcog. Milt,, 1890, pp.
(il-75. Also in Deutscher QeographiscJie Blatter (Bremen), 1892, pp. 153,
266; 1893, p. 2G0 ; 1895, p. 127. Ymer, ix. p. 47.
1890. G. Norpenskiold. Redogorelse for den Svenska Expeditionen till Spets-
bergen, 1890. Bihang till K. Svenska Vetenskajps Altad. Hand., xvii.
ii. 3. Stockholm : 1892. 8vo.
1891. Leo Cremer. Ein A usfiug nach Spitzbergen. Berlin: 1892. 8vo.
1891. Max Graf von Zepelin. Reisebilder aus Spitzbergen. Stuttgart: 1892.
1891-2. R. von Barry. Zwei Fabrten in das Nordliche Eismeer nach Spitz-
bergen und Nowaja Semlja unternommen von S. K. H. Prinz Heinrich von
Bomb m . . . in den Jahren 1891 und 1892. Tola und Wien : 1894
8vo. B.M. 10,470, h. 34.
1 892. Captain Bienaime and others. Voyage de " La Maucbe." Nouvelles archives
des Missions scientifiques et litteraires. Choix de rapports et instructions
public sous les auspices du Ministeie de l'instruction publiipie, des beaux-
arts, et des cultes. Tome v. Paris: 1893. 8vo.
L892. Charles Rabot. Jan Mayen et le Spitzberg. Part iv. In Le Tour du
Monde, Livr. 1713 (Nov. 4, 1893). Paris : 1893. 8vo.
Explorations dans l'ocean Glacial Arctique. Bulletin de la Soc. dt
Geographic, 7me. serie, tome iv, Paris: 1894. 8vo.
Both these accounts describe the visit of " La Manche " to Spitzbergen
in 1892.
L892. Axel Hamberg. En resa till norra Ishafvet sommareu 1892 foretagen med
understod af Vegastipendiet. Ymcr, 1894, pp. 25-61.
189;!. W. Lategahn. Eiue Nordlandl'ahrt in August, 1893. (II. Baedeker) 1894.
1893. F. Plass. Yergniigungsfahrt nach Spitzbergen. Hamburg : 1894.
1894. 11. II. Alme. Welmans Polarekspedition. Dei Norske Geografiske Selskabs
Aarlog, vol. vi. (1894-95). Kristiania: 1895. Svo. Pp. 8-36.
L891. Trygve Heverdahl. k Kanes " reise langs Spitzbergens Vestkyst. Ditto.
Pp. 37-50.
Tins is the account of how they dragged an aluminium boat along the
north coast of Spitzbergen from W'aldeu island to Mauritius bay.
L894. Spitzbergen and the Wellman Expedition. Nautical Magazine (London),
September, 1894, p. 792.
1894. Colonel H. W. Feilden. A Flying Visit to Spitsbergen. The Zoologist
(London), 1895, pp. 81 90.
Bibliography 325
1894. BlNBT J. Pbabson. Beyond Petsora Eastward. Two Summer Voyages to
Novaya Zemlya and the Islands of Barents Sea . . . With Appendices
on the Botany and Geology by Colonel II. AY. Feildeu. London: 18
E ■ «. B.M. 10,460, g. 19.
Includes notes on glacial deposits iu Green Harbour, Spitsbergen, p. 255.
1894. Pleasure Cruise to the "Land of the Midnight Sun "and the Spitsbergen
Polar Sea by the Orient Company's ss. " Lusitania." London : 1894. 8to.
An illustrated pamphlet 'issued to advertise the proposed cruise. P.M.
10,460, ff. 18.
L894. Victor H. Gatty. Spitsbergen, Ice Fiord. Ascent of Mount Lusitania.
Alpine Journal (London), xvii. p. 309.
1894. Lieut. G. T. Temple. Spitsbergen and Norway in August, 1894. Pleasure
cruise ... by the . . . ss. •• Lusitania." -ito.
1895. Visit of the Training Squadron to Spitsbergen in the summer of 1895. Geo-
graphical Journal ^London), December. 1895, p. 547.
- ">. L. F. Hkrz. TropischesundArctisches. Berlin: 1896. 8vo. B.M. 010,026,
i. 3.
1-;"!. Sir William Martin Conway. The First Crossing of Spitsbergen. Being
an Account of an Inland Journey of Exploration and Survey, with Descrip-
tions of several Mountain Ascents, of Boat Expeditions iu Ice Fjord, of a
Voyage to North-East Land, the Seven Islands, down Hinloopen Strait,
nearly to Wicbes Land, and into most of the Fjord- 1 i ~-"itzbergen, and of
an almost complete circumnavigation of the main Island. . . . With
contributions by J. W. Gregory, A. Trevor-Bat; vo. and E. J. Garwood.
London : IS','7. 8vo.
1896. Sir Martin Conway. The First Crossing of Spitsbergen. Geographical
J irnal (London\ April, 1S97.
1896. J. AY. Gregory. Across Spitsbergen. Transactions of the Liverpool G
graphical Society, 1S9S, pp. 41-58.
1896. E. J. Garwood and J. AY. Gregory. Contributions to the Glacial Geology
of Spitsbergen. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, ISPS, pp.
197-227.
1896. E. J. Garwood. Across Spitsbergen with Sir Martin Conway, with an
account of the ascent of Hornsund Tind. Alpine Journal, 1897, pp.
363-384.
1896. A. Treyor-Battye. The Birds of Spitsbergen. Ibis (London), 1897, p. 574.
1896. Nils Strihdberg. Kartb ofver Amsterdamon med onigifiringar. Ymcr,
1897, pp. 13-16.
1896. Georg AA'egener. Zum ewigen Eise. Eine Sommerfahrt ins nordliche
Polarmeer und Begeguung mit Andres und Xansen. Berlin : 1S97. Svo.
1896. Gekard De Geer. Bapport om den svenska geologiska expeditionen till
Isfjorden pa Spetsbergen somrnaren 1896. Ymcr, 189(3. Pp. 1-S.
1896-7. Charles Babot. L'Alpinisme au Spitsberg, Les Ascensions de Sir Martin
Conway. Ouvrage traduit et resume par Chark-s Babot. Paris : 1901. Svo.
1S90-7. Gvstaf Xorselius. Special Ufver Danskgattet. Ymcr, 1898, pp. 17-23.
1896-7. Henri Laciiambre and A. Machuron. Andree and his Balloon. London:
1898. Svo.
326 Bibliography
1897. Jonas Stabling. Andree's Flight into the Unknown. Century Magazine
(New York), 1897, vol. 55, pp. 81, 155.
1897. Jonas Stadling. A Carrier Pigeon : Andree's Messenger, 1897. Century
Magazine (New York), 1898, pp. 477, 706.
1897. Prof. A. G. Nathorst. Undersokningar betraffande den pa Knng Karls
Land fnnna stora flytbojen fran Andree-expeditionen. Ymer, 1899.
1897. Sir W. Martin Conway. With Ski and Sledge over Arctic Glaciers.
London: 1898. 8vo.
1897. . An Exploration in 1897 of some of the Glaciers of Spitsbergen.
Geographical Journal (London), August, 1898.
1897. E. J. Garwood. Additional Notes on the Glacial Phenomena of Spitsbergen.
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1899, pp. 681-691.
1897. Arnold Pike. A Cruise on the East of Spitsbergen. Geographical Journal
(London), April, 1898, p. 365.
1897. G. Meisenbach. En fard till Sjuoarne Sommaren 1897. Ymer, 1898, pp.
127-140.
1897. Victor H. Gatty. A Spitsbergen Glacier Expedition. Alpine Journal,
1897, pp. 501-506.
1897. Lucien Jottrand. Croquis du Nord. Bruxelles : 1898. 8vo.
1897. Spitsbergens Gazette. The most northern newspaper in the Globe. Pub-
lished at Spitsbergen weekly in the months of July and August. Nos.
1-9, May-August, 1897.
No more issued.
1898. Prof. A. G. Nathorst. Tva Somrar i Norra Ishafvet: Kung Karls Land
Spetsbergens kringsegling, Spanande efter Andree i nordostra Gronland.
Stockholm: s. d. (1900). 8vo.
1898. . The Swedish Arctic Expedition of 1898. Geographical Journal
(London), July and August, 1898.
1898. C. J. Otto Kjellstrom. En exkursion for uppmatining af Van Mijens bay
under ars svenska polar-expedition. Ymer (Stockholm), 1901, pp. 29-34.
1898. Axel Hamburg. Astronomische . . . Arbeiten der . . . Polarexpedition
1898. K. Sv. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Eandl. Bd. 39 (1905), No. 6.
With a new survey of Sardam (Van Keulen) Bay.
1898. V. Carlheim-Gyllenskiold. Travaux de l'expedition suedoise au Spitz-
bergen, 1898, pour la mesure d'un arc du meridien. Ofversigt K. Vetenskaps-
Akademie Forhand. (Stockholm), 1899, pp. 631-652, 887-919 ; and 1900,
pp. 499-515.
1898. Dr. F. Bomer. Auf einem deutschen Fischdampfer um Spitsbergen und Konig-
Karlsland. Jahresb. Frankfurter Geog. Verein, 1899-1901, pp. 160-163.
1898. Ch. Hartlaub. Zoologische Ergebnisse einer Untersuchungsfahrt des
Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins nach der Bareninsel und Westspitzbergen
ausgefiihrt im Sommer 1898 auf S.M.S. " Olga," Einleitung. Published in
Wissensch. Meersuntersuchungen . . . , Neue Folge, B. iv. Abt. Helgoland,
Heft 2. Oldenburg: 1900. 4to.
1898. Prince Albert de Monaco. Exploration oceanographique aux regions
polaires. Bulletin du Museum d'Hisloire Naturelle (Paris), 1899, p. 6.
Bibliography 327
1898. Jules Richard. Notes d'excursions au Spitsberg et aux ties voisines.
Comptes Eendus des seances de la Soc. de Geographic, etc., anne'e 1899,
pp. 66-78. Paris : 1900. 8vo.
The Prince of Monaco's expedition.
1898. Gekard De Geer. Nya bidrag till Spetsbergens geologi. Forh. vid 15 : de
Skandinav. Naturforslcaremi'det i Stohholm 1898. Stockholm : 1899.
Pp. 229-231.
1898-9. William S. Bruce. Spitsbergen, 1898 and 1899: Voyages with H.
S. H. the Prince of Monaco. Scottish Geographical Magazine (Edinburgh),
1900, pp. 534-550.
1S98-1900. O. Backlund. Mesure d'un arc de meridien au Spitzberg. Historique
general et travaux des missions russes. Map and Illustrations. La Geo-
graphic (Paris), 1901, pp. 287-296.
1899. Prince Albert de Monaco. Comptes Bendus des seances de la Soc. de
Geographie, etc., annee 1900, pp. 304-306. Paris : 1901. 8vo.
1899. V. Carlheim-GyllenskGld. Uppmiitning af en meridiangradbage p<i
Spetsbergen genom en svensk-rysk expedition. Tmer, 1900, pp. 209-227.
Contains extracts from Mr. Rubin's report on explorations near Mount
Chydenius.
Vide Geographical Journal (London), April, 1901, p. 433.
1899. Baron Gerard de Geer. Om gradmatningsniitets framforande ofver sodra
och mellersta Spetsbergen. Ymer, 1900, pp. 281-302.
Vide Geographical Journal (London), April, 1901, p. 434.
1899. . Die Gletscher von Spitzbergen. Verh. Siehenten Lnternat. G. Kon-
gres*es, 1899, 2 (1901), 299-302.
1899-1900. Tschernyciiev. Relation des operations de la mission russe pendant
l'hiver 1899-1900 et l'ete 1900. Resume du rapport de M. Tschernyschev.
La Geographie (Paris), 1901, pp. 297-302.
1899-1900. A. Hansky. Les Travaux de l'expedition russo-suedoise pour la mesure
d'un arc de meridien au Spitzberg. Map and LI lustrations. Revue General
Scient., 1902, pp. 1117-1130, 1165-1176.
1899-1902. Tryggve Rubin. Le leseau de la base suedoise au Spitsbergen.
Central try ckeriet, Stockholm : 1903. Pp. 1-49.
1899-1902. Missions scientifiques pour la mesure d'un arc de meridien au Spitzberg,
entreprises en 1899-1902 sous les auspices des gouvernements suedois et
russe. Mission suedoise. Stockholm : 1903, etc. 4to. In course of publi-
cation.
Section I. is to contain the history of the voyages, Section IX. A. the
topographic description of the regions explored.
1901. Gerard De Geer. Rapport till Kungl. Kommitten for gradmatning
pa Spetsbergen ofver den svenska gradmatningsexpeditionens arbeten
1901. Stockholm: 1902.
THE CARTOGKAPHY OF SPITSBERGEN.
The list of Spitsbergen maps hereafter printed does not claim to be a complete
list ; it merely includes all the maps that I have been able to find in a somewhat
long-continued search. I have examined the map collections in a great many
museums at home and abroad, and I have myself formed a small collection ; but
doubtless a great many have escaped my observation, One early and important
Butch map, copied by Guerard of Dieppe in 1C28, certainly existed, but I cannot
SPITSBERGEN FROM BARENTS' CHART (1598).
find an example of it. The Muscovy Company must have possessed a number of
important records of exploration, for we know that they sent boats out to explore,
year after year, down to the middle of the sixteenth century. What their servants
had discovered up to 1625 was included in the map published by Purcbas in that
year, but all their later discoveries and records are lost.
All the maps included in my list have been examined by me, unless the
Cartography
329
contrary is stated, and I have either obtained original examples, photographs, or
tracings of them. My collection of originals and reproductions, hound together
in an atlas, has been deposited in the map collection of the Eoyal Geographical
Society, where it may be examined by any one who desires to do so.
The earliest Spitsbergen map of all is, of course, that known as Barents',
inscribed 'Auctore Wilhelmo Bernardo,' and dated 1598. It was a posthumous
publication, and the best that can be said of it is that it may have been drawn
from materials left by Barents. A passage in De Veer's 'Three Voyages' must,
however, be recalled, in which he describes how, just before Barents died, he
"looked at my (De Veer's) little chart, which 1 hud made touching our voyage,
and we had some discussion about it." It is scarcely possible to avoid the suspicion
that this may be the draft that was published as Barents'. It appeared for the
first time in 1599, in the second part of the abridged Latin edition of Lindschoten's
Itinerarium, published by Cornelius Claesz.
SPITSBERGEN FROM HONDIXJS' CHART (1611).
In this map there is an extraordinary blunder. The west coast of the island,
which lies, in fact, almost in a straight line north by west, is represented as bent at
right angles, so that the part of the coast above the Foreland trends east-north-
east instead of west-north-west, the direction of the part south of the Foreland.
How the blunder arose we cannot now say ; possibly from some written note in
which east was set down (as not seldom happens) by mistake for west. This error
was remarkably persistent. It is found on all sorts of maps, long after more
correct and detailed surveys had been made, and it even infects such surveys.
Thus, for instance, though Vischer's world-map of 1639 shows Spitsbergen fairly
correctly, as then known, the younger Vischer, in his world-map of 1657, returns
to the old Barents type of sixty years before.
In the years immediately following the discovery, the Barents type, of course,
held the field. We find it on Franciscus Hoeius' map of the world of about 1600,
33o
Cartography
in the Bodel Nyenhuis Collection at Leyden ; and we find it on Wright's (com-
monly called Hakluyt's) map of 1600 — "the new map" of Shakespeare's Twelfth
Night. It appears, also, on the second state of Gerardus Mercator's map of the
North Polar regions, and on the Molyneux Globe in the library of tbe Middle
Temple. It was used with little change by Jodocus Hondius in his ' History of
Amsterdam' (1611), and in the Arctic map in ' Recentes Novi Orbis Historise'
(Colonic Allob., 1612). It even appears on the globe engraved by Abraham Goos
and published by J. Janssonius at Amsterdam in 1621, though in 1620, as we
shall see, the same A. Goos had engraved a far superior map of Spitsbergen. In
1625 it was still the best representation known at Dieppe, where Jean Guerard
i^v'/nto «''ti»fi
john daniel's chart of Spitsbergen (1612).
Published in Hessel Gerrits' ' Histoire du pays nomine Spitsberghe ' (Amsterdam, 1013).
published it as " Terre de Nieuwe Landt," in his ' Nouvelle Description bydro-
graphique de tout le Monde.' It reappeared again and again in editions of Mercator's
Atlas down to 1633, and even in 1657, as we have seen, it was still to the fore.
The first fairly truthful draft of the west coast was the chart known as John
Daniel's. The Muscovy Company from the first caused surveys to be made of the
coasts explored by their servants, but they seem to have endeavoured to keep
these surveys secret. Their expedition of 1611 did a good deal of exploration.
Next year the first Dutch whaling ship went to Spitsbergen, under the command
Cartography
331
of Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden, piloted by an English deserter named Allen
Sallowes, "a man imployed by the Muscovia Companie in the Northerne Seas for
the space of twentie yeeres before; who, leaving his country for debt, was enter-
tayned by the Hollanders, and imployed by them to bring them to Greenland
[Spitsbergen] for their Pylot." Daniel's chart doubtless went over to Holland in
Sallowes' pocket. It was published in 1613 at Amsterdam by Hessel Gerrits, in
his polemical tract entitled ' Histoire du pays nomme Spitsberghe,' wherein (p. 12)
the following reference is made to it : " Avons suivy pour la plus grand part les
MS. MAP OF SPITSBERGEN MADE IN 1614, AND SIGNED " JORIS CAROLUS STIEBMAN
CAERTSCHRYVER TOT ENKHUIZEN."
annotations des Angloys, tires d'unne carte de Johan Daniel, escrite a Londres,
l'an 1612." Daniel appears to have been a London cartographer. It is recorded *
that the East India Company's ships in 1615 used "a platte of John Danyell's
making (being Mercator's projection) for their voyage to the Cape. Gerrits' edition
of Daniel's map was the foundation upon which the Dutch type of Spitsbergen
chart was gradually built up. A degraded copy of it, with the names in Dutch,
is found on the globe of Guglielmus Csesius, dated 1622.
* See the Hakluyt Society's edition of Sir T. V. Roe's ' Journal,' vol. i. p. 3, note.
332
Cartography
The map drawn in 1614 by Carolus to illustrate his explorations was never
published, nor did he incorporate it in his later chart. It shows Edge island in
a vague fashion. It stands outside the regular line of development. The next
definite step in advance made by the Dutch (with whom we are for the present
alone concerned) was made in a map drawn by Harmen and Marten Jansz. of
Edam, engraved by A. Goos in 1620, and published by Jan Eversz. Cloppenberg
at Amsterdam in 1621. For brevity I refer to it as the Goos map of 1620. The
vkolicq's map of 1634.
only copy of it I have seen was in Baron Nordenskiold's collection, and has passed
with that into the university library of Helsingfors.* In addition to the west
coast, as depicted by Daniels, it shows a small part of the north and east coasts,
the mouth of Wybe Jans water, Swarthoeck away to the east, and Hope island
south of it. That Swarthoeck was the south-west point of Edge island and on
the east shore of Wybe Jans water, was not realized by the Dutch for a good
* I have been unable to get a photograph of this important map. There is a
tracing of it in my atlas at the Iioyal Geographical Society.
Cartography
CHART OF SPITSBERGEN, FROSI JORIS CAROLXJS' KIETJW VERMEERDE LTCUT ' OF 1(j31.
334 Cartography
many years. They went on marking Whales point without name as the east side
of Wybe Jans water and Swarthoeck far away to the east, as if part of some other
island, even after 1650, when far truer information was available. From the Goos
map (1620) we can follow the development of this type through a whole series.
There must have been another Dutch map of similar type published soon after-
wards, which Guerard of Dieppe copied in 1628. This was followed, with some
changes of names, by the map inserted by Joris Carolis in his atlas of 1634,
called ' Het nieuw vermeerde Licht,' etc. The same type was also employed by
Yrolicq (1634) to illustrate his remonstrance. The corresponding Dutch case was
supported by a large manuscript chart, which belongs generally to the type of
the period, but presents many small divergencies, especially to the eastward,
not repeated in later charts. It was drawn by Michiel Hsz. Middelhoven, and
is now preserved in the Eijks Archief at the Hague. A number of Dutch pilots
swore to its truthfulness. Let us hope they have been forgiven. Isaac Commelijn
copied Carolus' chart, with the addition of mountains decoratively dotted about,
into his ' Begin ende Voortgarjgh vande Nedelandtsche Oostindische Compagnie '
(1644), but, while saying nothing of his indebtedness to Carolus, he quotes Daniels'
map of 1612 as his chief authority. Next year the same type turns up in Anthony
Jacobsz.' edition of Carolus' atlas, and in 1648 in Jacob Aertsz. Colom's ' Der Vyerighe
Colom' (Amsterdam), and it reappears in other publications of Colom's, printed
and manuscript,* down to 1654. Other Amsterdam publishers made use of it —
Pieter Goos and Cornells de Leeuw in 1650, in a Pascaert (Brit. Mus. 982 (13)) ;
Janssen, in another almost identical (Brit. Mus. 982 (11)); Willem Iansz. Blaeu, in
his 'Zeespiegel' (Amsterdam, 1652, chart No. 48); and finally, as late as 1703,
in the English translation of Constantin de Beneville's ' Voyages.' Carolus' majj
of 1634 may, in fact, be regarded as the typical Dutch map-maker's idea of Spits-
bergen from about 1620 to 1655. That type, however, as we shall now show, did
not stand without a rival in England.
The Muscovy Company's servants no doubt brought home surveys year after
year, but they have all disappeared save part of one. This is the lower half of a
manuscript chart of the west coast, surveyed in 1613, apparently by R. Fotherby,
and now preserved with his journal in the library of the American Antiquarian
Society at Worcester, Mass. It is more accurate than the corresponding portion of
the map we have next to consider. As the names upon it do not appear else-
where, it was doubtless never published, and not even used as material by any
compiler. This brings us to the very important map published in 1625 in the
third volume of Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' reissued in 1631 in Pellham's ' God's Power
and Providence,' and finally in the fourth volume of Churchill's ' Collection of
Voyages ' (1704-1732). This is generally known as Edge's map, because it
contains the result of his explorations, but I prefer to call it the Muscovy Com-
pany's map, for it is drawn from materials in the company's possession, and includes
all the discoveries made by their servants up to the date of its appearance. It is
far better than any previous map, and than most that followed it ior half a century.
It shows the west coasts of Barents and Edge islands, the south point of North-
East Land, and, by marking Wiches Land, has given rise to much controversy.
This is the last seventeenth-century British contribution to Spitsbergen topography.
The Muscovy Company's servants continued their explorations from year to year
for many years, but none of their observations have ever been published, nor have
* Manuscript chart in British Museum, S.T.A. (2) f.
Cartography
335
THE MUSCOVY COMPANY'S MAP OF SPITSBERGEN (1625).
336
Cartography
they survived. This Muscovy Company's map produced considerable! influence
upon foreign cartographers. A rudo Italian copy of it appeared in 1630 in Sir
Robert Dudley's 'Dell' Arcano del Mare' (Florence); but that includes some
names and rude details in the west coast of Edge island, which I suspect were
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derived from the men of Hull. Luke Fox's C ire urn polar map of 1U35 contains a
small representation of Spitsbergen, obviously based in a general way upon the
Muscovy Company's map; but the north coast is carried much farther north, and
three islands are inserted in about lat. 82°, named " Shefferde Orcades," a name I
have not met with elsewhere. The Muscovy Company's type of Spitsbergen is
Cartography
337
found in the polar chart in Hexham's English edition of the atlas of Mercator and
Hondius of 1G36, but till 1662 I cannot find that it was known to Dutch carto-
graphers, except that in 1652, in Blaeu's • Seespiegel,' the above-mentioned polar
chart is copied, and the little Spitsbergen with it. But the special map of Spits-
bergen in the second volume adheres to the old Carolus type.
It was the enterprising Hendrick Doncker who first gave currency to a more
developed Spitsbergen in his atlas in 1655. He also added a valuable local chart
of Smeerenburg bay, afterwards copied by Van Loon (c. 1660) and by G. van
Keulen (c. 1705-1710). Jan Janssonius, the successor of Mercator and the Hondius,
and the rival of the Blaeus, copied Blaeu's copy of Hexham's polar chart in 1657.
, - • ta -, - w - - - -' - ~ --_---J-U««*.-»-\.- -> J^r. L ^ -J _'_ - -
! 2g^i -
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1 < !V t 7 > I'i 1 SB erg ^\yL-
\
BLAEU'S MAP OF SPITSBERGEN, MAINLY AFTER EDGE. C. 1662.
Doucker's type was adopted by most Dutch publishers, such as Van Loon (c. 1660),
Colom (c. 1660), and P. Goos (1662).
Down to about 1662 published maps lagged far behind actual contemporary
knowledge of Spitsbergen. All the north bays, Hinlopen strait, North-East Land,
the Seven Islands, Byk Yse islands, the position of the east coast of Edge island —
all these features were known to the whalers before 1650; none of them were
recorded on any known map. But in or about 1662 map-makers began to bestir
themselves. Valk and Schenk of Amsterdam issued a large-scale map, very bad
in many respects, but at least marking Wyde bay, the mouth of Hinlopen strait
and the coast of North-East Land. The names on this map, and its western half
generally, were copied by later Dutch map-makers, as we shall see. Colom, in his
1 Zeeatlas ' of about the same date, though mainly following Doncker's map of 1655,
corrected its north coast and depicted Wiche sound (Liefde bay), Wyde bay, Hinlopen
C
22
338 Cartography
strait, and Treurenberg bay. Whether these efforts were provoked by Blaeu, or
whether he was stimulated by them, at all events, about the same time (16G2)
he published a large-scale ' Spitsberga,' which stands alone amongst Dutch charts.
With the exception of the north coast, it copies the Muscovy Company's map of
1625. The north coast is altogether new. It makes the heads of Wiche sound
(Liefde bay) and Wyde bay communicate, and it marks and names Hinlopen
strait. It introduces a number of names not found elsewhere before or after. It
is far more beautifully engraved than any other Spitsbergen map. Curiously
enough, though published in Blaeu's famous atlas, it was never imitated, nor were
any of its characteristic features repeated by any other Dutch publisher.
The three novel maps of 1662 were really little better than those that had
gone before them. Two of them were more imposing, and that was all. But
H. Doncker, who in 1655 had definitely replaced Carolus' type by his own, took
an important further step in 1663. The map he then published really begins to
resemble the form of the country it professes to depict. It definitely marks the
eastern limits of Spitsbergen, Barents island, and Edge island. It shows two of
the three main bays in Hinlopen strait, and it indicates the Seven Islands and the
north and west shores of North-East Land. It also marks the Byk Yse islands,
and it finally omits the drifted off Swartehook, which Colom had retained in his
otherwise innovating map of the previous year. On the other hand, it omits a
number of bays which were clearly marked by Carolus, and it shows increasing
ignorance about the west coast, the bays being now little frequented by the
whalers, whose work henceforward was chiefly done at sea. Doncker's new type
was copied by Pieter Goos in ' De Zee- Atlas ' of 1666, and repeated in other editions
of that work — Spanish 1669, English 1669 and 1670. Curiously enough, in or
after 1684, Doncker published a much larger Spitsbergen map, rough in execution,
in no part more accurate than this of 1663, and in some parts much less accurate.
His obliteration of the earlier and truer form of Wiche sound (Liefde bay) may be
indicated. Close examination proves that the western and southern parts of this
later map were actually traced, and the names copied, from Valk and Schenk's
map of 1662, which Doncker's own map of 1663 put into the shade !
However, this large map seems to have been a success, for Jacobus Bobijn
copied it on a smaller scale, and J. van Keulen did so almost slavishly for his atlas
of 1689. G. van Keulen, about 1705-6, reissued this map with little alteration
except in the form and name of Wyde bay.
Meanwhile English cartographers left Spitsbergen alone. When first observed
it may seem surprising, but on reflection it will be found natural, that from the
date of the publication of the Muscovy Company's map by Purchas in 1625 down
to the issue of Scoresby's map in 1820, no original or improved chart was issued
from England or as the result of English surveys. English whaling was first
carried on by the Muscovy Company, who had reasons, or thought they had, for
keeping their discoveries and surveys secret. It seems probable that their records
were destroyed in the Fire of London — at any rate, they are not known to have
been seen for more than two centuries. After their day was done, English whaling
utterly declined. On the other hand, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, whaling was one of the most energetically pursued Dutch industries.
Thus all the new charts were Dutch, and such English Spitsbergen charts as were
issued from time to time were belated copies of Dutch publications.
In the text accompanying the English atlas published at Oxford by Moses
Pitt (1680-83), it is written, " Had our men . . . been careful to make Charts as
Cartography
339
PASEAERT VAN SPITSBERGEN MET ALLE ZUN ZEECUSTEN ZOO VEL TOT NOCH TOE BEKENT IS,
BIJ HENDKICK DONCKER. 1663.
22 2
34o Cartography
our industrious Neighbours (the Dutch) oblige their shipmasters to do, divers
discoveries had been asserted to this Nation, which are now almost disputed from
us. The Dutch gave names ... to places long before discovered by the English,
as if themselves had been the finders." The polar chart that follows is practically
a copy of that in Hexham's Mercator, and it seems as though the Oxford editor
only knew of the Muscovy Company's survey through that Dutch medium, so
completely was geographical research and compilation at that day dominated by
the energetic Dutch publishers of maps. So little did English map-makers know
of the matter, that when, in 1671, John Sellar of Wapping issued a map of Spits-
bergen in the 'English Pilot,' he traced Doncker's old map of 1655, eight years
after his greatly improved map of 1663 had been published.
In the year 1707 Giles, the Dutch whaling skipper, made his famous cir-
cumnavigation of the whole Spitsbergen group, and discovered the east coast of
North-East Land with the islands off it, and especially Giles Land. Another
skipper, Outger Rep by name, went over part, at all events, of the same ground, for
his name is given to an island off the eastern part of the north coast Of North-East
Land. These two meD, Giles and Rep, were whalers of experience, and seem to
have been regarded in their day as the best authorities on Spitsbergen geography.
Accordingly, Gerard van Keulen, the enterprising map publisher of Amsterdam,
employed them to produce for him an entirely new Spitsbergen chart on a much
larger scale than any before published. The result was the'Nieuwe afteekeninjj;
van Het Eyland Spits-Bergen opgegeven door de Commandeurs Giles en Outger
Rep en in't Ligt gebragt en uytgegeven door Gerard van Keulen,' unfortunately
without a date (about 1710). This chart represents the high-water mark of the
prescientific surveys of Spitsbergen. Almost every important feature of the coast
is set down somehow, though with great inaccuracies in latitudes and longitudes.
Some features are depicted which the modern charts wrongly ignore, as, for instance,
the little bay of the Basques between Magdalena and Hamburger bays. In point
of nomenclature, the Giles and Rep chart is less valuable. Many of the old names
had been forgotten, others transposed. Some sites were wrongly identified," as, for
instance, that of the English settlement in Bell sound. But, on the whole, the
chart is a very fine work for its date. It was not superseded till the modern
survey was made. Parry used it on his polar expedition in 1827, and bore witness
to its rough general truthfulness. Van Keulen issued it on a smaller scale, with
the surrounding seas, in his ' Oostersee Karten.' Zorgdrager practically copied it
with unimportant alterations in the various editions of his ' Bloeyende Opkomst
der . . . Groenlandsche Visschery ' *of 1720 and later. It is unfortunate that
Giles' own work should not be better recorded. Daines Barrington instituted
inquiries about it, and put on record that Mr. C. Heidinger, publisher in the
Strand, London, intended in 1775 to use Giles' surveys (of which he had copies)
" for a new and accurate map of Spitsbergen, for which he has collected many
valuable materials, which he proposes to add to a new edition of his translation
of Prof, le Roy's ' Narrative of Four Russian Sailors.' " Heidinger published that
narrative in 1771, but the proposed second edition and new map seem never to
have been issued, and all the materials collected are lost.
R. van Wyck also freely copied the Giles and Rep chart towards the end of the
eighteenth century, making a further confusion in the names. His original
manuscript drawing is preserved in the library of the New York Geographical
Society, and there is an accurate tracing of it in my atlas at the Royal Geo-
graphical Society in London. A small engraved copy of it illustrates B. de Reste's
CartograpJiy 34 1
'Ilistoire des Peches' (Paris, 1801, vol. iii. p. 79), and a large engraved copy is
included in the portfolio accompanying R. G. Bennet and J. van Wijk's ' Verhand-
lung over de Nederlandsche Ontdekkingen,' etc. (Utrecht, 1827). Zorgdrager's
version of the Giles and Rep chart finally served as foundation for the map intro-
duced by Scoresby to illustrate his 'Arctic Regions' (London, 1820), the chief
difference between the two being that Scoresby, by compressing the longitudes
approximately to their just extent, made the geueral contour of the west island
fairly correct.
With the survey work and published maps of the modern epoch of exact
science we are not here concerned.
342 List of Maps
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MAPS OF SPITSBERGEN.
1598. The Barents' chart. First published in the second part of the abridged
Latin edition of Lindschoten's Navigatio ac Itinerarium (Amsterdam,
1599). The chart is dated 1598, and inscribed " Auctore Wilhelmo
Bernardo." Spitsbergen, as thus represented, occurs on numerous other
maps, charts, and globes, such as Gerardus Mercator's Map of the North
Polar regions (c. 1599), Wright's Map of the World (1600), the Molyneux
Globe in the Middle Temple Library (corrected in 1603), etc.
1611. Tabula Nautica of Jodocus Hondius,.published in Pontanus' Rerum et Urbis
Amstelodamensium Eistoria (Amsterdam, 1611). Spitsbergen is of the
Barents type, with a few additions intended to illustrate the voyage and
supposed discoveries of Hudson in 1607.
1612. John Daniel's Map. The original was drawn in London in 1612 by John
Daniel, the cartographer, from materials belonging to the Muscovy
Company. It was published by Hessel Gerritsz. in his Histoire du pays
nomme Spitsberghe (Amsterdam, 1612).
1612. K. Fotherby's MS. Map. The upper portion is lost. The lower portion
is in the library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass.
U.S.A., in a MS. journal of Fotherby's voyage in 1613.
1614. Joris Carolus' MS. map. It is dated 1614, and inscribed " Joris Carolus
Stierman Gxrtschryver tot EnchTi" (Enkhuizen). The original is pre-
served in the Pep. des cartes de la marine at Paris.
1620. Nieuwe Pascaerte van alle de Zeecusten van geheel Europa . . . afgeteikent
door Harmen en Marten Iansz. vermaert Caartschrijvers tot Edam ende
gedruckt £ Amstelredam bij Ian Eversz. Cloppenburg opH water in den
vergulden Bijbel bij de CorenmarcJct. Anno 1621. Abraham Goos
Amstelodamensis sculpsit. 1620.
An example of this map is in the Nordenskiold Collection, University
Library, Helsingfors.
1622. Terrestrial Globe by Guljelmus Cajsius. Spitsbergen is of the Daniel type,
but the names are mostly Dutch. Examples of this globe are in the
Doge's Palace and the Correr Museum at Venice.
1625. Terre de Nieuwe Landt in Jean Guerard's Nouvelle Description hydro-
graphique de tout le monde (Dieppe, 1625). Spitsbergen is inaccurately
copied from the Barents type.
1625. The Muscovy Company's Map, generally called " Edge's map." Published
in Purchas' Pilgrimes, part iii. (London, 1625), in Pellham's God's Power
and Providence, etc. (London, 1631), and in Churchill's Voyages (London,
1704-32).
1630. Carta particolare della Terra di Greneland, Carta 49 in Parte seconda del
Tomo terzo of Sir Piobert Dudley's DdV Arcano del Mare (Florence, 1630).
List of Maps 343
1634. Het Nieuwe Lant van Spitsbergen, map 22 in Joris Carolus' Het Nieuio
vermeerde Licht ghenaemt de Sleutel vaii't Tresor, Spiegel, Gesicht, ende
Vierighe Colom des Orooten Zeevxrts . . . Ghedruckt tot Amsteldam By
Ian Ianssen Boeck-vercooper opH Water inde Pas-kaert (Amsterdam, 1634).
A copy of this book is in the Rijks Archief at the Hague.
1634. La France arctique, a portion of a large MS. chart on vellum, probably
prepared by Vrolicq in support of his claim for a share in the whaling
industry. It belongs to Mr. C. GL Cash, 46, Cumely Bank Eoad, Edin-
burgh. An inaccurate copy of this version of Spitsbergen is found on
Jean Guerard's Carte universelle hydrographique of 1634, an example of
which is in the Dep. des cartes de la marine at Paris.
1634. Waere afteyckeninge vanH Lant van Spitsbergen. Anno 1634. Signed
Michel Hsz. Middelhouen fecit. MS. map in the Rijks Archief at the
Hague. This map was made to accompany the Noordsche Company's
protest against Vrolicq's pretensions.
1636. Polar chart in H. Hexham's edition of G. Mercatoris et J. Hondii Atlas
(London, 1636). British Museum, 2059. f.
1644. Delineatio Spitsbergx in Isaac Commelijn's Begin ende^Voortgangh vande
Neederlandtsche Oostindische Compagnie (Amsterdam, 1644). The text
states that the map is based on that drawn by John Daniel in London in
1612.
1G45. '£ Nieiv gevonde lant van Spitsberge, before p. 57 in Anthony Jacobsz.' Be
Lichtende Colomne ofte Zee Spiegel (Amsterdam, 1645). The map is a
rude copy of that in the Atlas of Joris Carolus of 1634.
1648. Map of Spitsbergen in Jacob Aertsz. Colom's De Vyerighe Colom (Amster-
dam, 1648), and in the editions of 1649 and 1654. A rude copy of the
map in Carolus' Atlas.
c. 1648. Der Groote Noorde Zee Wassende Grade Pas Caart Nieulijcks Beschreven
door Jacob Aertsz. Colom. MS. chart on vellum in the British Museum,
STA (2) f.
1650. Pascaart van de Zee-custen van Buslant . . . Spitsbergen en Nova Zemla
Op mens oversien en verbetert. 1650. V Amsterdam Bij Pieter Goes . . .
en Cornelis de Leeuw. British Museum, 982 (13).
c. 1650. Pascaart van de Zee-custen van Finmarken . . . Ruslant . . . Spitsbergen
en Novcc Zemla. ? Amsterdam door Ian Ianssen. British Museum, 982.
(11).
This chart is almost the same as the preceding.
c. 1652. Pascaarte drawn by Cornelis Doedsz. of Edam, published by Willem
Jansz. Blaeu of Amsterdam. The map of Spitsbergen is an inset.
An example on vellum is in the Nordenskiold Collection, University
Library, Helsingfors. Probably this is the example referred to by S.
Muller (• Gesch. der Noordsche Co.,' p. 427, note).
1652. Regiones sub polo arctico. A circumpolar chart in Willem Jansz. Blaeu's
Zeespiegel (Amsterdam, 1652). It was copied from the corresponding
chart in Hexham's edition of Mercator's Atlas (1636). The plate was
republished in a later state by Valk and Scheok c. 1680 (see below).
344 List of Maps
1652. H Nieuw gevonden lant Spitsberge. Map 48 in W. Jsz. Blaeu's Zeespiegel
(Amsterdam, 1652).
1655. Pas-caerte van Spitsbergen met alle haer Bivieren, havens, bayen, sanden, en
droogten als mede Hoe men C. de Uyt Kych op Spitsbergen van de Noord
Caap en Beeren Eylandt bezeylen sal. Map 23f , before p. 77 in Hendrick
Doncker's De Lichtende Columne ofte Zee-Spiegel (Amsterdam, 1655).
British Museum, 570 i. 10.
1655. Pascaart vande zeecusten van Bvslant, Laplant, Finmarken en Spitzbergen.
Map 17, after p. 56, in the same atlas as the preceding. British Museum,
570 i. 10.
1655. Local chart of Mauritius Bay, on p. 79 of Hendrick Doncker's De Lichtende
Columne ofte Zee-Spiegel (Amsterdam, 1655). British Museum, 570 i. 10.
Copies of this appear in J. Van Loon's Pascaert (Amsterdam, c. 1660 ;
British Museum, 982 (16)), and in Van Keulen's Nieuwe Pascaert
(Amsterdam, c. 1705-10). S. Muller (' Gesch. der Noordsche Co.' p.
427, note) mentions Fen zeer groote geteekende kaart van Spitsbergens
noordwesthoele in het bezit (1874) van den heer F. Muller te Amsterdam.
This may be in the Nordenskiold Collection, University Library,
Helsingfors. Muller implies that it formed part of a MS. atlas of
Van Keulen.
1656. Map of the IJszee in Colom's Atlas of 1656 (not seen by me).
1657. Nova et Accurata Poli Arctici et terrarum Circum Jacentem Descriptio.
Apud Joannem Janssonium. In Jannsonius' Atlas of 1657.
British Museum, 982 (10).
This is a copy of Blaeu's Polar Chart of 1652.
1658. Pascaart van de Zee-Custen van Buslant, Laplant, Finmarken, Spitsbergen
en Nova-Zemla Nieuwlycx uytgegevon f Amsterdam bij Hendrick Doncker
... A 1658. Not seen by me.
1661. Pascaert van Ruslant . . . Spitsbergen en Nova Zemla t' Amsterdam bij
Johannes Van Loon. British Museum, 982 (16). ■
This also appears in Van Loon's Klaer-Lichtende Noorte-Star Ofte Zee-
Atlas (Amsterdam, 1661 ; British Museum, 7 Tab. 87), and in the second
edition (Amsterdam, 1666 ; British Museum, S. 109 (17)).
1662. Pascaart vande zeecusten van Buslant, Laplant, Finmarken, en Spitsbergen,
in Pieter Goos' De Nieuwe Groote See-spiegel (Amsterdam, 1662).
1662. Spitsberga, a map copied from the Muscovy Company's of 1625 with some
additions, including Hinloopen strait. It appears in vol. i. of Blaeu's Atlas
Major (Amsterdam, 1662). Two walruses, copied from Hessel Gerritsz.'
print, are introduced into the frame of this title.
c. 1662. Spifzberga. Amstelxdami Apud G. Valk et P. Schenk. Hydrographic
Department of the Admiralty, London (x. ii. Akim).
c. 1662. Nieuwe Pascaart door Arnold Colom, in Colom's Zee-atlas (Amsterdam,
c. 1662). British Museum, Shelf 112 (27).
1663. Paskaert van Spitsbergen met Alle zijn Zeecusten zoo vel tot noch toe Bekent
is. Bij Hendrick Doncker, 1663. In Doncker's atlas. British Museum,
S. 4 (18). Reproduced above.
This is the first map to mark the Seven Islands and the east coast.
List of Maps 345
1606. De C usten van Noorioegen, Finmarken, Laplandt, Spitsbergen, Ian May en,
Eylandt, etc. t' Amsterdam, bij Pieter Goos opH Water inde Vergulde
Zee-spiegel.
This map appears in P. Goos' De Zee- Atlas ofte Water-weereld
(Amsterdam, 1666 ; other editions in 1669, 1670, 1672).
1666 Be Zee Custen van Ruslant, Laplant, Finmarken, Spitsbergen, en Nova Zemla.
f 'Amsterdam, bij Pieter Goos opH water bij de Nieuwe brugh in de
Vergulde Zee Spiegel.
This chart appears with the preceding.
1666. Pas-kaert van Spitsbergen met alle zyn Zee-kusten zoo veel tot noch toe bekent
is. t Amsterdam. By Joannes Janssonius van Waesberge.
Map 7 in Vai Loon's Zee-Atlas (Amsterdam, 1666). British Museum,
S. 109 (17).
After 1670. Nieuwe Paskaert van Spitsbergen, Finmarken, Laplant, en Ruslant,
streckende van Eitlant tot Nova Zemla. f Amsterdam, by Iacobus Robijn
inde Nieubrugsteeg inde Stuurman. An example is in my Atlas of Spits-
bergen in the Library of the Geographical Society, London.
1671. A Chart of Greenland [i.e. Spitsbergen - ] Cherry Island and Hope Island by
John Seller, in Wapping, in Seller's English Pilot (London, 1671), vol. i.
p. 92. British Museum, 1804, b. 6. This is copied from the Chart in
Doncker's atlas of 1655, but the names are changed.
The same Atlas contains a General Chart of the Northerne Navigation
and a Chart of the Sea Coasts of Russia, etc., both of which contain
Spitsbergen on a small scale. The two latter charts reappear in Seller's
Atlas Maritimus (London, 1675).
1677. Pascaarte van alle de Zee-custen van Europa . . . door Willem, Pieter, en
Joan Blaeu, tot Amsterdam, mdclxxvii. On vellum, in the Nordenskiold
Collection, University Library, Helsingfors.
1680. Pascaert, in J. van Keulen's Le Nouveau et grand illuminant flambeau de
la mer (Amsterdam, 1680-8-4). Not seen by me.
1680. A Map of the North Pole and the part adjoining. Oxon. At the theater,
1680. In vol. i. of Moses Pitt's English Atlas (Oxford, 1680). A copy of
the Polar Chart in Hexham's edition of Mercator's atlas of 1636.
c. 1680. Nova et accurata Poli Arctici . . . Descriptio, by G. Valk and P. Schenk
(Amsterdam). This is a second state of the same plate as was used to
print Blaeu's Polar Chart of 1652, Spitsbergen and other details being
re-engraved. British Museum, 982 (18).
1687. A large-scale map of Spitsbergen, being a division of the Paskaarte van
Ysland Spitsberge en Jan Mayen Eyland. t' Amsterdam, by Johannis Van
Keulen. Before page 79 in J. Van Loon and Olaes Jansz. Vooght's De
Nieuwe Groote Lichtende Zee-Facket. f Amsterdam, Gedruckt by Johannes
van Keulen. 1687. British Museum. S. 61 (2).
This map is copied, with some added names, from Doncker's of 1663.
1687. Nieuwe Paskaart vande Geheele Oosterze en Noortze, etc. f Amsterdam, by
Johannis Van Keulen.
In the same atlas as the preceding.
346 List of Maps
1687. Paskaart van't Noordelykste deel dcr Noort Zee. t' 'Amsterdam, by Johannis
Van Keulen.
From the same atlas as the preceding. In the corner of the plate is an
engraviDg of men on ski.
1687. A rough chart of Magdalena bay, marking anchorages and glaciers, on page
80 of the same atlas as the preceding,
c. 1700. Spitsbergen. Pas-caert met alle haer Rivieren, etc. Amsterdam, by Cas-
parus Lootsmann. 42 x 26 cms. Not seen by me.
1703. Map of Spitsbergen [in Constantin de Keneville's Voyages, vol. i. p. 94
(Rouen, 1725), and in the English translation (Londou, 1703).
1705-10. Nieuwe Pascaart Inhoudende 7 Noorder deel van Europa . . . H Amster-
dam, by Joannes van Keulen . . . Nieuwelijkx Opgestelt door G. van
Keulen.
A local chart of Mauritius bay, copied from Doncker's Atlas of
1655 is inset.
After 1707. Nieuwe afteekning van Het Eyland Spits-Bergen opgegeven door de
Commandeurs Giles en Outger Rep en irCt Ligt gebragt en uytgegeven door
Gerard van Keulen. Map 53 of Van Keulen's Oostersee Karten. British
Museum, S. 113 (2). Reproduced above.
After 1707. Nieuve Zee-Kaart van het Noorde Gedeelte van Europa Beginnende
van de Eijlanden van Eitland en Fero tot Spitsbergen en Archangel, to
Amsterdam, by Joannes van Keulen. Map 38 of Van Keulen's Oostersee
Karten. British Museum, S. 113 (2).
1720. Map of Spitsbergen in Zorgdrager's Bloeyende Opkomst, etc. (Amsterdam,
1720).
After 1771. MS. Map of Spitsbergen, signed " R. Van Wyk Jacz. dell," in the
library of the New York Geographical Society. A small engraved copy of
this appeared in B. de Reste's Histoire des Peches (Paris, 1801), vol. iii.
facing p. 79. A large eugraved copy of the same forms part of the port-
folio of maps accompanying R. G. Bennet and J. Van Wijk's Verhandlung
over de Nederlandsche Ontdtkkingen, etc. (Utrecht, 1827).
1820. Map of Spitsbergen in W. Scoresby's Arctic Regions (Edinburgh, 1820).
Reproductions of several of the above-mentioned old Spitsbergen maps were
published by F. de Bas in Tijdschrift van het Aardrijkskundig Genootschap le
Amsterdam (Deel iii. No. 1).
HISTOEY OF SPITSBERGEN NOMENCLATURE BEFORE
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The various points, bays, islands, and other sites in and around Spitsbergen have
borne a variety of names at different times. This was partly due to the variety of
nationalities to which the frequenters of Spitsbergen have belonged, and to the
fact that many of them knew nothing about the traditions of the others. More-
over, records have been badly kept, and much evidence for the nomenclature in use
at different dates has been altogether destroyed. Thus it happens that very few
points or sites retain on modern maps the names originally bestowed upon them.
When Barents discovered the land in 1596, he saw only parts of the west and
north coasts. He named it Spitsbergen, not Spitzbergen, as modern writers, since
the time of Martens (1671), so constantly misspell it. No Englishman saw Spits-
bergen before Hudson in 1607. It suited the English claims to hold that it was
part of Greenland, and they accordingly generally called it by that name down to
the end of the eighteenth century. The Muscovy Company's men also named it
King James' his New-land, and the name New-land is found on several early
charts, but soon fell into disuse. In English State papers, Spitsbergen is almost
invariably called Greenland, a fact which the compilers of the Calendar of State
Papers have not noticed.
In considering the names applied to different sites, it will be most convenient to
begin at the South cape, and work thence northward up the west coast, then
eastward along the north coast, and then back to the South cape down the east
coast. Next we may proceed similarly rouud the coasts of Barents, Edge, and
North-East islands in turn, noticing the outlying islands as we pass closest to
them along the main shores. Almost all the old names pertain to points on the
coast, so that in this way they can be most lucidly treated for purposes of reference
and record.
The West Coast.
Off the South cape there are several islands, one much larger than the rest.
Perhaps it is to this island that the name Sonde Klip on the maps of Middelhoven
(1631) and Blaeu (1662) is intended to apply; but as the island is very low, the
cliff referred to is more probably that behind the South cape itself on the main
land. The original name of the cape is Point Lookout, which we find marked on
Daniel's map (1612). Carolus (1614) calls it Generaels hoech. Goos (1620), an
important authority for early Dutch names, marks it Kyckuit; but it is Zuydhoeck
on Caesius' globe (1622). On Vrolicq's map (1631) it is named Premiere pointe ;
on Middelhoven's (1631) Z. Jiouck ; on Carolus' (1634) and Commelin's (1644)
P. Monier. Doncker (1655) gives it the two names C. de Kyckuyt and Whales
backs, the latter being obviously an English appellation (of the islands?), for
which I cannot find any old English authority. These two names appear together
348
Nomenclature
on almost all later maps, till finally Giles and Kep (c. 1710) add a third to them,
and mark the cape Zuyd Kaap, Kaap de Uytkyk, Whales BaJc, de Zuyd West
HoeJc van Spitsbergen. Point Lookout is clearly the correct historical name.
Proceeding a short distance up the west coast we come to a little bay, marked
Freeman bay by Fotherby (1613).
Inland and stretching north from here are some notable mountains, which cul-
minate in one prominent peak, visible afar from the sea to the west, south, and
east. This peak was named Muscovy Company's Mount by Poole in 1610, and is
marked Moscovit Mont on the Dutch edition of Daniel's map (161.2). The same
peak is named Mount Edge on the Moscovy Company's map (1625), and the name
then given lingers long on Dutch maps, wandering away to the east coast, and
being misspelt Mound Egle and Egde. Possibly, however, Mount Edge may have
been the hill behind the South cape. Scoresby (1820) calls it Horn Mount and
Hedgehog Mount, the former from its proximity to Horn sound, the latter from its
appearance. The name Mount Hedgehog is now applied to a hill on the east
coast, and may stay there. In modern times the great mountain is generally
known as Horn Bunds Tind, but its right designation is Muscovy Company's
Mount.
Lord Suffolk's point is the name given by Fotherby (1613) to the cape just
south of the entrance to Horn sound.
Horn sound itself was named by Poole in 1610, after a reindeer horn found
there. The Dutch thought the name had some connection with their town Hooru,
and so spelt it on many of their maps. It is Hoom baye on Csesius' globe (1622),
but in the text of the Dutch Eemonstrance of 1624 and other documents at that
time, this becomes Horesont and Oresont, an obvious blunder which reappears
from time to time to a late date. Horn sound is the correct designation. Within
the sound are minor bays in the north and south coasts. The south bay was the
English station, and was called Bowles bay by Fotherby (1613). The Dutch
called it Goes haven. It may have been the Mottle bay of the English list (State
Papers, 1658), but probably that was in the north side.
The cape north of the entrance to Horn sound is named Lord Worcester point
on Fotherby's map (1613). The hill behind it was probably the Lammas island
of Hudson (1607), marked on Hondius' map (1611). Early explorers often mis-
took hills beheld from a distance for islands.
Fotherby (1613) marks Lord Nottingham's bay at a point behind the Bun
islands of modern charts.
Further up comes a great glacier, now known as Torell's glacier. It is the
Slaad berg first marked by Giles and Rep (c. 1710), and mentioned by Zorgdrager
(1720).
The point south of Bunder bay was named Lee point by Poole in 1610, and has
chanced to retain that designation.
Doncker, on his historically important map of 1655, marked Bheelant on an
area south of the modern Recherche bay. He was copied by Valk and Schenk
(1662), and they in turn by others, who finally misled Scoresby (1820), to whom
we owe it that modern charts bear that name on a great glacier area which reindeer
can never have frequented. The origin of the blunder is this. There is a small
island at the bottom of Recherche bay, known to the Dutch as Rheen Eylandt,
and so marked on Blaeu's large map (1662). The name strayed away from the
island, and became wrongly applied. Roebuck-land should be erased from the
map.
The IVest Coast 349
Bell point, the cape south of the entrance to Bell sound, was named by Poole,
in 1610, after the neighbouring bell-shaped hill. It is marked on Daniel's map
(1612), and often later down to Scoresby's map (1820).
Bell sound, likewise named from the same hill by Poole (1610), has retained
its designation after many vicissitudes. Barents noticed it in 1596, and called it
merely Inwyck (inlet). On Daniel's map (1612) it appears as Belsound. Gerrits
records (1613) that it was called La baye des Franchoys by the Basques. Carolus
(1614) calls it Bell sound, but the Dutch often translated the name into Klock
lay or rivier. That must have been its name on the Dutch chart copied by
Guerard (1628), who writes it r. de Kloech. It reappears as Klock bay or Bell
sound for the future, till Giles and Rep (c. 1710) introduced confusion by adding
to these the wrong designation Willem van Muyens bay. Scoresby (1820) called
it Bell sound only, and he has been correctly followed by later cartographers.
Within, Bell sound divides into three main bays. The first, running in to the
south, was named Schoonhoven by the Dutch skipper Willem van Muyen in
1612. Fotherby (1613) called it St. Joseph's bay, but the English whalers com-
monly called it Ice bay (Chambers, 1619 ; Goodlard, 1623). The Dutch sys-
tematically called it Schoonhoven. Sometimes when Bell sound is mentioned in old
writings, it is this bay that is meant. The Norwegians called it Sor fjord (Keilhau,
1827). Scoresby (1820) knew it as Clean bay, a translation of Schoonhoven. The
French in 1838 gratuitously renamed it Recherche lay. It should be called
Schoonhoven, and nothing else. The island within it near its south shore, marked
Training Squadron Island on the Admiralty chart, was known to the Dutch as
Rheen eylandt (Blaeu, 1662).
The branch of Bell sound which runs inland to the east-south-east was called
Lord Elesmere sound by Fotherby (1613), but, like the rest of Fotherby's names,
this did not " catch on." Whether the English had any name for it is not recorded.
The Dutch systematically called it Sardam bay from the map of Goos (1620) down
to that of Giles and Rep (c. 1710). But the last-named editors, who often made
blunders in naming, added to a small bay in its north coast (the Middle Hook
haven of the Admiralty chart), the name Van Keulens baaytje, in honour of their
publisher, G. van Keulen. This name was taken by Scoresby (1820) for that of
the main sound, which he accordingly called Van Keulens lay. The true old name
Sardam (Zaandam) lay should be restored, and Van Keulen cove should be the
name of the anchorage behind Eders island.
We come next to the cape dividing the two main branches of Bell sound. It
was named Point Partition by Poole in 1610, and the name was never changed
till recently, when we find it called Separation point on the Admiralty chart. The
proper designation should be restored.
The north branch of Bell sound is almost closed by a long narrow island. Here
the Hull whalers had their station for many years in the seventeenth century.
They called it the Rock in Bell sound. The modern Swedish name is Axel island.
Behind this rock is a large bay named Low sound by Poole in 1610. The name
is found on the maps of Daniel (1612), the Muscovy Company (1625), R. Dudley
(1630), and in the text of Blaeu's atlas (1652). The Dutch often misplace the name
Klok lay on this sound, but Klok bay is a mere translation of Bell sound, and
therefore belongs outside the Rock. A worse blunder was made when Giles and Rep
(c. 1710) moved Willem van Muyen's name from the cove to which it belongs.
Once set adrift, it presently floated over to Low sound, where all modern carto-
graphers wrongly fix it. Its true old name, Low sound, should be restored to this
35° Nomenclature
fine bay. Perhaps Low sound was the original Cold harbour of the Dutch, as
Caesius' globe (1622) seems to suggest. Eastward, on old charts, Low sound divides
into two long branches, which look like sounds, but the north branch is really a
wide dry valley. The south branch was never known by any other name than
Miclriel Binders lay, which has been recently restored to it. To the north branch
two names are almost universally simultaneously attached — Gold harbour and
Ondiepe rivier. Ondiepe rivier is explained on the Giles and Rep map (c. 1710) to
be " a dry fiord full of bogs, where reindeer are plentiful." The name Cold harbour
is generally written far up it by map makers who did not know it was dry. The
true Cold harbour is the shallow bay at its mouth, to which the name has recently
been restored.
Just outside the Bock (Axel island), in the north coast of Bell sound, is a cove,
where the first Dutch interloping skipper anchored in 1612. It was named William
van Muyden's haven after him. The name is first seen on the map of A. Goos
(1620), and is hardly ever absent from its right place in any Dutch chart till
Giles and Rep (c. 1710) displace it. At a later date the Hull men built their store-
house here, and made this cove one of their stations. We know, from Pellham's
narrative (1630) and the English list (State Papers, 1658), that the English name
for it was Bottle cove. This, however, is the historic Muyden or Muyen haven,
and that name should be restored to it.
The low cape north of the entrance to Bell sound was named Loivsoundness
by Poole in 1610. Fotherby (1613) tried to call it Lord Northampton point. On
the Muscovy Company's map (1625), and often later, it is entitled Lowness, and that
name is preserved for it by Scoresby (1820), and should be retained. Low sound
was evidently named from it as Bell sound from Bell point.
The coast between Bell and Ice sounds is fringed by a number of rocks. Baffin
(1613) wrote, " In this place are many of these rockes where are great multitudes
of foule, and they are called Lizets Hands." The name, spelt Lisetts and Lissetts,
occurs on many maps, from the Muscovy Company's (1625) to Scoresby's (1820),
and has recently been restored.
Behind these islands, apparently about halfway between the two sounds,
Fotherby (1613) marks Bussell's bay, named after the chief English whaling skipper
of that year.
The cape south of the entrance to Ice sound was named Shrewsbury point by
Fotherby (1613). In modern days it has been named Cape Staraschtchin, after
the famous Russian trapper who lived so many years and died and was buried
near it. Fotherby's name was never used by any one but himself, and need not
be revived.
The great sound north of this point was observed by Barents (1596), who
describes rather than names it Grooten Inwyck. Hudson (1607) refers to it as the
Great Indraught. Poole named it Ice sound in 1610, and that has been its chief
name ever since. Just within the entrance to it is Green harbour. The English
whalers often applied this name to Ice sound as a whole. This appears from the
terms of an agreement made in 1614 between the English and Dutch captains,
Joseph and Monier, who use the two names as equivalent. The same usage con-
tinued as late as 1654, when we read (State Papers, Domestic, Interreg., vol. 65,
No. 70, Jan. 1654) that, whereas Bell sound is 15 miles wide and near 30 deep,
Green harbour is " yet every way a great deale bigger, the length of that harbour
being never knowne."
Coming now to the bays within Ice sound, the first in the south coast is Green
The West Coast 351
harbour, named by Poole in 1G10. This name appears on almost all charts from
Daniel's (1612) down.
Nest to the east comes Coles bay, presumably named from the neighbouring
reindeer ground, which was known to Pellham (1630) as Coles Park, "a fine place,"
he says, " for venison, and well known to Thomas Ayers." The modern name is
Coal bay, an obvious blunder, though coal does in fact crop out in the neighbour-
hood.
Adventure bay comes next, named after a whaling vessel.* Its proper old name,
recorded on the map of Giles and Rep (c. 1710), was Klass Billen bay, named after
Commandeur Corn. Claesz. Bille, a skipper recorded by Zorgdrager as having been
active in 1675. His name has been moved across Ice sound to a bay on the other
side, where it may as well remain. Advent bay is a modern blunder (see p. 202).
The great eastern extension of Ice sound had no early name. It is first marked
Sassele bay on a map in a manuscript atlas by Van Keulen (c. 1680), known to
Muller, but not now discoverable by me. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) call it Sassele
or Sassen bay, and the latter form of the name, retained by Zorgdrager (1720) and
Scoresby (1820), is in contemporary usage.
The cape nowadays known as Gips hook, is vaguely marked H Mlddelland by
Giles and Rep (c. 1710).
The most easterly bay in the north coast had no old name. It is now known
as Klaas Billen bay, a name that originally belonged to the modern Advent or
Adventure bay.
North fiord is not marked on any old map.
The little bay in the north coast of Ice sound, near the entrance, was
probably named Behouden (Safe) haven by Van Muyen when he took refuge there
in 1612, or by Poole in 1610. Behouden haven is the regular Dutch name from
the first. The English also called it Poopy bay or Niches cove, names we learn from
Baffin (1613). The latter took the form Port nick (Heley, 1617). It is marked
Niches cove on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). The English list of 1658,
printed below, still calls it Port Nick, which seems to have been its common
English name, but Safe haven is at least as old and authentic.
Proceeding now up the west coast, the next bay we reach was originally
named Osborne inlet, probably by Poole in 1610. The name appears on Daniel's
map (1612), and is used by Baffin in 1613, and in the English list of 1658. The
Dutch always called it S. Jans haven, as we find from Goos' (1620) and almost all
later maps. The original name has been lost, and might be restored.
The long island opposite this part of the Spitsbergen coast was called Black
Point Isle by Poole in 1610, but by 1612, as we learn from Gerrits' pamphlet, the
English already knew it as Prince Charles island, and the Dutch as Kijn island.
Kijn was the Dutch supercargo who broke his neck by falling down a hill on it
in that year. Generally the Dutch called it simply the Foreland, the English
Prince Charles Foreland (to accompany King James Neivland). Once on a Dutch
chart (Blaeu's, 1662) it is named H lang Eylandt.
The south cape of the Foreland was named Black point by Poole in 1610,
and this name appears on the maps of Daniel (1612) and the Muscovy Company
(1625). The Dutch called it Kijnness, or Cape Kynnae, after the supercargo who
* Some old charts accidentally misplace the names hereabouts, and thus this bay
is sometimes found designated Michel Binders bay. There is no doubt of its correct
designation.
35 2 Nomenclature
lost his life here in 1612, the year in which doubtless the name was given.
Numerous Dutch charts give it the double designation, Zuydhoeck Kynnae. They
knew of the name Black point, but, translating it SwartehoecJc, they applied it to
the next cape up the Foreland's west coast. Scoresby (1820) correctly moved
the name Black point back to the south cape, where it ought to be kept.
The isolated hill behiud it is named Saalberg by Giles and Rep (c. 1710).
A little way up the west coast, where the Admiralty chart marks Goshavjh
rock, Valk and Schenk (c. 1662) mark Persch Biff. The name is copied by
Doncker (after 1684), Van Keulen (1689), Giles and Rep (c. 1610), and Scoresby
(1820). Seller, in 'The English Pilot,' translating from Doncker, says-' that west
of the Foreland, H league north of Black point, its south cape, are two islands,
a cannon-shot apart and the same distance from shore, and that they are bird-
islands. A mile north of them, he adds, is " a rock of clear white stones," 1| mile
from shore.
A point described by Poole as 4 leagues north-west of Black point was named
by him Cape Cold in 1610. The Dutch invariably insert the name Swartenhoek
somewhere about here, but with the utmost vagueness. The true Black point was
the south cape of the Foreland.
Further north and still on the west shore of the Foreland, the Dutch maps
from Goos' (1620) downwards almost invariably mark a cape with the name
C. Siettoe. Muller says that in the manuscript atlas of Van Keulen (c. 1680) the
name is spelt Setie Taey, and he suggests it may mean " Zet je taai." Scoresby
and Lamont mention a DeviVs Thumb on the west coast of the Foreland. Was
this identical with Cape Cold or Cape Siettoe?
The north cape of the Foreland was named Vogelhoeck by Barents (1596),
Fair Foreland by Poole (1610) ; both names have been used indifferently down to
the present day.
Somewhere round in the east coast of the Foreland, approximately opposite
Cove Comfortless, was a bay referred to by Fotherby (1613) as Freshwater bay.
Both bay and name have vanished from modern charts.
The shoal which almost blocks Foreland sound in about lat. 78° 42' was noticed
by Barents (1596). It is named the Bar on the Muscovy Company's map (1625),
and 't Biff on the map of Giles and Rep (c. 1710).
South of this in the east coast of the Foreland, and almost opposite Osborne
inlet, is a bay named Seahorse bay by Baffin in 1613. In Dutch it was called
Zeehonde bay, which Giles and Rep (c. 1710) carelessly misspelt Zeelonde baay, thus
giving rise to Scoresby's (1820) Zealand bay. Within it, in its north shore, is
a creek named by Giles and Rep Pieter Winters Baaytje, after Pieter Pietersz.
Winter, a Dutch skipper of about 1700, mentioned by Zorgdrager (p. 321,
German edit.). Modern charts wrongly transfer Peter Winter's name to the
main bay.
The sound dividing the Foreland from Spitsbergen is conveniently known as
Foreland sound. Barents in 1596 entered it, and, being turned back by the bar,
called it Keerwyck, a name which occurs on some of the earliest maps and on
Csesius' globe (1622). Poole (1610) named it Foul sound. Valk and Schenk
(c. 1662) and most later Dutch cartographers call it Voorlands fioerd. It is Zorg-
drager's Hinter-Vorland. The north end of it was the earliest English whaling
station. Gerrits (1613) says the English set up their tents on both shores. This
north end of Foreland sound, with the modern Kings and Cross bays, seems at
first to have been called by them Whales bay, but by 1613 they had definitely
The West Coast 353
applied the name Sir Thomas Smith bay to the north end of the sound. That
name is used by Baffin and other writers, and is found on the maps of Carolus
(1614) and the Muscovy Company (1625). Giles and Rep (c. lflO), harking back
to old days, revive for it the name Walvisch bogt, and Scoresby (1820) seems to
have christened it anew Bay of Birds, from the neighbouring Vogelhoeck.
Within Sir Thomas Smith bay, io the coast of the main island, is a bay marked
English lay on modern charts and most old ones. Its original name, marked on
Daniel's map (1612), was Cove Comfortless. That was still used in the English
list of 1658.
The cape forming the eastern termination of the north end of Foreland
sound is vaguely indicated by Yalk and Schenk (c. 1662), and named Quade hook.
The name is copied by Doncker (after 1684), by Van Keulen (1689), and by Giles
and Eep (c 1710), and has been adopted on modern charts.
We now come to the modern Kings bay. It was named Whales bay by Hudson
in 1607, and Deer sound by Poole in 1610. The former name is not found in any
map, but Daniel (1612) marks " Dere sound." The neighbouring bay, as we shall
see, was called Close cove, and a creek in it Cross road. The Dutch seem to have
blundered with these names. Goos (1620) misspells the name as Kras sond. Guerard
(1628), copying some lost Dutch chart, changed Kras into Gars. Caesius' globe
(1622) calls the bay Engelsche bay, which Vrolicq (1634) translates B. aux Anglois.
Middelhoven (1634) names it Kar sondt, and most later Dutch maps print the
name in one or other of the forms Kar, Karr, Kars. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) are
the first to name it Koninks bay. Zorgdrager (1720) returns to English bay.
Scoresby (1820) adopts the name Kings bay from Giles and Rep, and attaches to
its north-eastern harbour the old name Deer sound. Modern charts follow Scoresby's
usage, which it would be difficult now to change. That the old name Deer
sound remained the regular English designation is proved by its inclusion in the
official English list of 1658.
The bay opening to the north out of Kings bay was named Close cove by Poole
in 1610. Daniel (1612) marks it Closse sound. The anchorage in its western side
(now marked Ebeltofts harbour) was named Cross road by Pool, and that became
the name commonly applied to the whole bay, though the strict meaning of each
term was not forgotten. The Dutch always call the bay Kruys sond. It is clear
that the old names should be restored, the main bay being Close bay, and the small
harbour Cross road.
The headland named Mitre cape by Scoresby (1820), and C. Mitra on modern
charts, was called Collins cape by Hudson (1607), and this name should certainly
be revived. It only appears on a map once, and then misspelt. Hondius (1611)
marked it " Colnis."
The Seven Glaciers that descend to the sea between Collins cape and Hamburg
bay were noticed by the old whalers, who named them the Seven Icebergs, ice-
berg being the name for what we call a glacier. They are first marked by Giles
and Rep (c. 1710), and always later.
The next bay north of them is Hamburg bay. It is first marked by Giles and
Rep (c. 1710). This was the station of the Hamburg whalers, first occupied by
them in or shortly after 1642. This may be the Crooke haven of the English list
of 1658.
North of it is a smaller bay, not marked on any modern chart except the French
chart, No. 929. Vrolicq occupied it in 1633, and it is named on his map (1634)
Port Louis ou Refuge francois. In many Dutch charts, from Valk and Schenk's
C 23
354 Nomenclature
(c. 1662) to Giles and Rep's (c. 1710), it is named Bashes hay. Beechey mentions
it as the site of a Russian trapper's hut.
The cape south of the entrance to Magdalena bay has received many names.
It appears to have been named Knotty point by Poole in 1610. He writes, " When
the Fayer-forland did bear S. by E., it being 2 miles from me, I saw the land beare
N.E. by N. about 9 leagues off, the which because it was full of knottie mountains,
I called Knottie point ; and between Knottie point and Fayer Foreland I saw a
great bay, which because it was foggy on the sudden, I could not discover." If
we take this account textually, Knotty point falls at the snout of the midmost of
the Seven Glaciers, which is clearly impossible. On the other hand, whatever
latitude of error we grant to Poole, if he was near Fair Foreland, he could not have
seen land north of Magdalena bay. Supposing him to have been not 2 but 11 miles
north by west of Fair Foreland, the cape south of the entrance to Magdalena bay
would have been north-east and north of him, and about 9 leagues away. But if
he guessed his distance from Fair Foreland so erroneously, what reliance can we
place on his guess of 9 leagues ? Again, take it that Knotty point is the cape
south of the entrance to Magdalena bay, where is the great bay " between Knottie
point and Fayer Foreland, . . . which because it was foggy on the sudden, I could
not discover " ? Poole did enter Kings bay and the other bays there, so it cannot
have been them. On the other hand, he did not enter Magdalena hay. I think it
probable that he named the cape south of the entrance to that bay Knotty point
when he first saw it ; that fog came on, and he confused this cape with the cape
north of that bay. We know Gurnerd's Nose to be the south-west point of Danes
island. Poole presently states that the entrance to Fairhaven is between Gurnerd's
Nose and Knotty point, and that there is an island {Moss island) in the entrance.
This makes Knotty point the cape north of Magdalena bay beyond all question,
and so it is marked on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). On Daniel's map
Knotty point is vaguely marked, Magdalena bay not being indicated at all. If
we take Knotty point to be the northern cape, Magdalena bay is clearly the great
bay which Poole did not discover, and it is the only bay that he can have
referred to. On the other hand, the English list of 1658, which writes the names
in order from south to north, introduces Maudlyn sound between Knotty point and
Fairhaven. The best conclusion to come to is that the true Knotty point is south
of the entrance to Magdalena bay, but that Poole (before identifying that bay)
thought it was identical with the point north of it, and so miswrote his account
of the entrance to Fairhaven. If Fotherby's (1613) " plat " of Fairhaven ever
turns up, this point will be cleared up, and not before. Carolus (1614) marks it
Sivartenhoeck. The Dutch in 1632 called the cape in question " den cleynen hoek."
Muller(N. 0>., p. 434) states that it is named Westhoeck in the manuscript atlas by
Van Keulen, to which he had access. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) name it Magdalena
hook, and that name has been in common usage ever since, and had better be
•retained.
Magdalena hay was entered by Barents (1596) and named Tusk hay, but the
name did not catch on. Already it is marked by Carolus (1614) Mart mag. hay,
by Goos (1620) Magdalenen sond, and by Caesius (1622) S. Maria Magdalene sond
The name was universally accepted thenceforward. Daines Barrington states that
the English sailors pronounced it Mac-Helena. Within Magdalena bay on its
southern shore is a promontory, with an island off its point and an anchorage to the
east. The island was named Jan Banker island, and is so marked on the manu-
script map by Van Keulen (Muller's), and on the Giles and Rep map (c. 1710).
The West Coast 355
The anchorage was named Trinity harbour by Fotherby (1614). Scoresby (1820)
marks it John Duncan's Bight ; it is the English Cove of modern charts. Fotherby's
name should be revived.
A mountain on the promontory between Magdalena bay and Fairhaven is named
the Headless Hog (Varken sonder hooft) by Giles and Kep (c. 1710). Muller
(N. Co., p. 434) says it is also so marked in the Van Keulen manuscript atlas
(c. 1680-90).
The cape north of Magdalena bay has no name on modern charts. As it was
marked Knotty point on the Muscovy Company's map (1625), and as Poole
certainly once referred to it by that name, it should, I think, be so called once more.
We thus come in due sequence to the famous Fairhaven, which Poole named
in 1610. " Between Knotty point," he writes, " and Gurnard's Nose (Danes island)
is a haven, in the entrance whereof is an island (Moss island). This haven goeth
out on the north-west side of Gurnard's Nose. I named this haven the Fair
Haven? The phrase about " going out " is obscure, but clearly Poole means that
you come in at one end of the haven and go out at the other, and that it lies
between an island and the mainland. Fairhaven is, in fact, the sound between Danes
island and the mainland, and more particularly the inner part of it within Moss
island. Fotherby in 1614 drew a "plat" of it, which Purchas unfortunately did
not publish. Fairhaven is marked on the following maps : Daniel (1612), Carolus
(1614), Goos (1620), Guerard (1628), Vrolicq (1634), Carolus (1634), Colom (1648).
Carolus (1614) misspells it Feer-haven, and is followed by Goos. Guerard makes
matters worse by calling it b.ferer. Carolus later (1634) writes it Beerhaven, and
is copied by Colom. Thus arises the Beere bay of Valk and Schenk (c. 1662) and
their copyists, Doncker (after 1684) and Van Keulen (1689). Other Dutch map-
makers name it English bay or the English harbour. It is so referred to by Vander
Brugge (1634), and on most Dutch maps after that date. At first the east end
of the sound is meant, but the name gradually drifts away to the south-east
corner of Mauritius bay, where it has no sense. The entrance to the sound from
the west is frequently called South gat, first, I believe, on Doncker's map (1655).
Sometimes the names South gat and English bay are written together, as on
Doncker's local map (1655). The probable site of the English whaling-settlement
was at the south-east corner of Danes island.
That island is first named Banes island on Doncker's map (1655), and generally
later. It has not been changed. The south-west point of the island was called
Gur nerd's Nose by the English, and Engelsche Uytkyk, or the English Outlook, by
the Dutch. Poole, as we have seen, named it Gurnerd's Nose in 1610.
The well-marked bay in the west coast of Danes island was always called
Robbe bay on Dutch maps from Middelhoven's (1634) to that of Giles and Rep
(c. 1710). Vrolicq (1634) marks it Port St. Pierre, apellepar lesdanois Copenhavre
baie et par les holandois a pell e' Robes baie. Giles and Rep are the first to add the
alternative name Banes bay, which was copied by Zorgdrager (1720) and Scoresby
(1820). The modern Norwegian name is Kobbe bay, a mere translation for Robbe
bay, which is the form that should be maintained.
In the north coast of Danes island is a small bay that has been much
frequented. The Smeerenburg Dutch called it Houcker bay. Here in 1634 the
Cookery of Harlingen was set up, there being no room at Smeerenburg for more
cookeries. Behind the Cookery of Harlingen, Martens (1671) says there was
" running water." It is marked " vars water " by Giles and Rep (c. 1710). On
the shore of this bay Mr. Arnold Pike built his hut, and near it Andree set up his
23—2
356
Nomenclature
;■'■
balloon-house. The bay was renamed Virgo bay after Andree's steamer, but it
should be called Eoucher bay as of old.
Hereabouts Zorgdrager (1720) vaguely marks Zetje Fau, apparently the name
of the north-west cape of Danes island, and the counterpart of Zet je taai.
The sound between Danes and Amsterdam islands was confusedly named in
old days. Middelhoven (1634) names it Middel gat lucidly enough, and that
name occurs on most Dutch maps, but it was not commonly used by the Smeeren-
burg whalers themselves. Looking at this stretch of water from the point of view
of Smeerenburg, they called it indifferently South bay and West bay. The name
Banes gat is of modern introduction. Middle gat is the historically correct
designation.
Within this sound, between Smeerenburg and Houcker bay, is an island called
Deadmans Island, frequently referred to in the old writings. On Doncker's local
chart (1655) it is marked 2 miles further east. A little west of it Doncker marks
another island " Eyl daer 't Schip de Oliphant op geseten heeft." He also marks
a number of other islands which do not seem to exist.
Amsterdam island was landed on by Barents (1596), but not specially named.
He called this group of islands Oebroocken Land, and that name is found on the
earliest maps. As soon as the Dutch settled there the island no doubt received
the name, which has adhered to it ever since. It is found in many early documents,
but not, I think, on any map before Doncker's (1655).
Along the curved south shore of the flat spit of land projecting at the
south-east corner of Amsterdam island Smeerenburg was built, with its warehouses
and cookeries. The slightly curved bay in front of it was called Smeeren bay.
The arrangement of the warehouses from east to west was in the following order :
Amsterdam, Middelburg, Flushing, Danes, Delft, and Hoorn. Five of these names
are marked on Doncker's local map (1655) and others copied from it. Vander
Brugge's journal (1634) contains names of several points in the neighbourhood.
Thus, on the island, were the north, south, and west Salaet hills, where scurvy-
grass grew. The three-topped snow-mountain in which the island culminates is
named by Zorgdrager (1720) Marri met de Brosten, which Muller says should be
Moer (mother) met de borst. It is also mentioned by Martens (1671).
The conical hill at the west extremity of Amsterdam island was called tlie Beehive.
Its name is sometimes by error ascribed to the island off the north point. That
was the BeviTs island. The north point was named Hakluyt headland by Hudson
in 1607, and that name appears on the maps of Hondius (1611) and the Muscovy
Company (1625). It has fortunately survived. Daniel (1612) marks it Ysse caep.
The Dutch seem to have known it as Quade hoek or Buyvels hoeh, both names
appearing together on the maps of Giles and Rep (c. 1710) and Zorgdrager (1720).
The great bay bounded on the west by Amsterdam and Danes islands, and on
the east and south by the mainland, was named as a whole Butch bay or Mauritius
bay. Eollandsche bay is first marked by Carolus (1614). The name Mauritius bay
does not seem to appear on any map before Doncker's local map (1655), but it is
of early and frequent occurrence in Dutch official documents, and is to be regarded
as the best name for the bay. It was never known as Smeerenburg, which modern
map-makers have applied to it quite erroneously. Smeerenburg was a settlement,
not a bay. The Dutch, who went there in great numbers, employed many names
for minor localities which are mostly forgotten. Zorgdrager (1720) explains that
in his time Mauritius bay was reckoned from Smeerenburg southwards North of
Smeerenburg the sound was called North bay or gat.
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The North Coast 357
Within Mauritius bay in its east coast, Valk and Schenk (c. 1662), and after
them Doncker (after 1684) and Van Keulen (1689), mark a cove Slaad bay south
of the two north glaciers. This is doubtless the bay into which the third glacier
empties, opposite the middle of Danes island. The same authorities mark Ys hoek
south of it, and further south Beere bay by mistake for Fairhaven, as above
explained. Giles and Eep mark a strange Zuyd Bay rivier, apparently flowing
down north-westward from far inland, and emptying itself approximately into
Slaad bay. It is made to rise in a lak, which Zorgdrager depicts surrounded by
mountains.
Van Keulen's manuscript atlas (c. 1680-90), Giles and Rep's map (c. 1710), and
Zorgdrager's map (1720) mark the incomprehensible name Makelyk Oud at three
points in Mauritius bay. It is also mentioned in Zorgdrager's text. The position
of these points is as doubtful as the meaning of the name, which the best Dutch
scholars are unable to explain. One point may be the north-west point of Spits-
bergen. The second, named also according to Muller Krayennest, is further south
in the east coast of the bay. The third, marked by Giles and Rep (c. 1710) " 3rd or
Niew Makkelyk Oud,'" is in the south coast of Fairhaven.
The North bay or gat, as above explained, is the sound east of Amsterdam
island by which Mauritius bay was entered from the north. It is mentioned by
Vander Brugge, and first marked on a map by Doncker (1655).
The North Coast.
Having completed our examination of the west coast, we now come to the
north coast and the islands lying off it. It was referred to by the old Dutch
whalers as Orn den Oost, according to Zorgdrager.
The north-west cape was named Lage hoeck (Low point) by the Dutch, and is
found so designated on most Dutch maps from Doncker's (1655) downward. Giles
and Rep (c. 1710) wrote somewhere near it the name Wagepat, probably a mistake
for Vlacke point, which was a name of the next cape to the east. The modern
name Foul point has no historical authority. Low point is correct.
The bay east of Low point was called Vogel bay by the early whalers. It is so
marked by Goos (1620), and B. aux oiseaux by Guerard (1628). Carolus (1634)
and Commelin (1642) call it Be groote Vogel baij. As the Zeelanders used it for
their first whaling station, it was also called Zeeland bay, and that is the name
applied to it in Van der Brugge's Journal (1634). The group of islands in it
was called Archipelago, a name which occurs with various spellings in Van der
Brugge's 'Journal' (1634) and on the maps of Valk and Schenk (c. 1662), and his
successive copyists down to Zorgdrager (1720). Blaeu (1662) alone names it
Baij met de Eylanden and Somer baij. The modern English name Foul bay is
evidently a mistake for Fowl (Vogel) bay, which is what we ought to call it.
The coast between Fowl bay and the next bay to the east runs out to at least
three capes. One of these, probably the one most to the west, is referred to by
Van der Brugge (1634) as Albastert honck.
Off this coast lie four islands, now known as Vogel Sang, Cloven Cliff, and the
Inner and Outer Nonvays. The haven behind them is wrongly named Fairhaven
on modern charts. Fairhaven was more than 10 miles further south.
Vogel Sang is called Cape Ban-en on the Muscovy Company's map (1625).
The Dutch always knew it by the name it correctly retains. The first map-maker
to mark it was Doncker (1655).
358
Nomenclature
Cloven Cliff is marked De Reus (the Giant) on Carolus' map (1614), Saddle
Island on that of the Muscovy Company (1625). Doncker is the first to put it
on his map (1655) as H Eyland met de Kloof. Valk and Schenk (c. 1662) call it
Klip met de Kloof, Martens (1671) calls it the Clifted Sock. It becomes Kloof de Clip
on the map of Giles and Eep (c. 1710), and finally Cloven Cliff on Scoresby's (1820).
The two Norway islands lie north and south of one another. As the old charts
generally place them east and west, it is impossible to tell from them to which
island a particular name should be attached. The names themselves, however,
help us. One of them is the Zeeusche Uytkyk, or Zeeland Lookout. This must
have been the Outer Norway island, whose east point still retains the name.
Various names, such as Bear island (Muscovy Company's map, 1625) and Goose
island (Doncker, 1655), may most probably be assigned to the Inner Norway
island, but not with much assurance.
Returning again to the mainland, the next point that calls for attention is the
cape west of the entrance to Red bay. Fox point is its true English name, as we
learn from the Muscovy Company's map (1625). The name was still in use in
1658, when the English official list was drawn up. The Dutch called it Vlacke
point, a name first found on Doncker's map (1655). A shoal near this cape is
mentioned by Zorgdrager (1720) under the name Rift van de Uytkyk.
Red bay, or more accurately Red-cliff sound, was named by Fotherby in 1614.
The Dutch in the same year named it Monier lay after Antonie Monier, commissary-
general of their fleet in 1614. Monier bay is found on almost all Dutch maps
from Goos (1620) downward. One or two call it Roo bay, not in memory of the
English name, but by mistake for the neighbouring Red beach. Carolus (1634),
and after him Commelin (1642), name it S. Laurens bay. In the same year (1634)
Vrolicq calls it Vausques bay. His map indeed is so vague that Fowl bay would
suit as well, so far as position is concerned, but the bay itself, with its deep double
head, is clearly indicated. Moreover, the Dutch would not have allowed the
Basques in 1633 to fish in Fowl bay, which was the Zeelanders' station ; so that
Red-cliff sound must have been Vrolicq's Basques bay. The fact that the cape
east of the entrance was named Biscayer's hook confirms this attribution.
The bottom part of Red-cliff sound is divided by a cape into two smaller bays.
Fotherby named the cape Point Deceit. Blaeu's map (1662) marks the cove west
of it Ayer bay, and the east cove Beeren, for Bear bay. A somewhat different position
for Ayer bay is, however, implied by the text of Doncker's atlas (edit, of 1655).
The point at the entrance of Redcliff sound, on the east, is Point Welcome
(though in modern charts that name has been displaced). Fotherby named it in
1614. Returning from the east across Broad bay, he writes, " we came over the
bay to Point Welcome, which I so named because it is a place where wee often
times rested when wee went forth in our shallops." It is so marked in the Mus-
covy Company's map (1625). Blaeu (1662) by mistake names it De Vlacke punt
or De Lange hoeck. The proper Dutch name for it was Biscayers' hook. Zorg-
drager makes its identity plain. He describes it as " a little east of the Zeeusche
Uytkyk ... a long pointed strip of land stretching into the sea with good
anchorage near it — still known as Biscayers' Hook."
The wide shallow bay between this point and the next cape to the east was
named Broad bay by Fotherby in 1614. Vrolicq (1634) calls it B. Diric. Fotherby
named the coast of it Red beach, which is marked on the Muscovy Company's map
(1625). The Dutch called the land within this bay Rhenevelt, and it was here
they came from Smeerenburg to hunt reindeer. The name occurs on many maps.
The North Coast 359
They called the bay Boo or Roode bay, names which occur on the maps of Doncker
(1655), Valk and Schenk (c. 1662), and many more. Colom (c. 1662) alone calls
it Benefelfs bay. Martens (1671) says that on the Rhenevelt " there is a hill that
looketh like fire," whatever that may mean. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) mark hills
in uncertain positions behind Redbeach. They are named Booberg, Trourenberg,
Berg op Beenveld. They name the east side of this peninsula Agter Beene Veld.
The east point of Redbeach was named Bedbeach point by Fotherby (1614). It is
wrongly marked Welcome point on modern charts.
Englishmen ought to call the bay, known as Liefde bay to the Dutch, by its
proper English designation Wiche sound. So Fotherby named it in 1614, and so
it is marked in the Muscovy Company's map (1625). It does not appear on any
Dutch map till Doncker's (1655). He names it simply Oostwyck. Blaeu (1662)
calls it Oostinivyk. Yalk and Schenk (c. 1662) make a confusion by calling it
Oosterwyk or Wijde bay, a mixture of names copied by Doncker (after 1484) and
Van Keulen (1689). Martens (1671) already knew it as Liefde lay, but Giles
and Rep (c. 1710) were the first so to mark it. Within this bay in its east coast
is a cove, named Muy shaven on Blaeu's map (1662). Giles and Rep (c. 1710) call
it Liefde Baytje.
Moffen island, some 10 miles north of the mouth of Wiche sound, is first
marked by Doncker (1655), and thenceforward on almost all maps. Colom (c. 1662)
alone entitles it Walrus eylandt, and misplaces it considerably.
The cape east of the entrance to Wiche sound was named Castlins point by
Fotherby (1614) and on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). The Dutch had
several names for it — Cruwen hoeck (Doncker, 1655), Swarte hoeck (Blaeu, 1662),
Dorren hoeck (Colom, c. 1662), Grawen hoeck or Flacke point (Valk and Schenk,
c. 1662 ; Doncker, after 1684 ; Van Keulen, 1689), Derre hoek (Giles and Rep,
c. 1710; Zorgdrager, 1720). The old name Castlins point should be restored on
English charts.
By whom the long deep sound that follows, as we proceed east, was named, we
cannot say, but Fotherby, writing in 1614, states, "This sound is that which
formerly had, and still retaineth, the name of Sir Thomas Smith's inlet" and so it
is marked in the Muscovy Company's map (1625). The Dutch seem always to
have called it Wyde bay, but their cartographers sometimes confuse it with neigh-
bouring sounds, and write on it the erroneous names Oosterwyk or Way-gat. The
proper English name might be revived, but is rather cumbersome.
A cove in the west side of Wyde bay, near the entrance, is named Jan
Tennisen's bay by Giles and Rep (c. 1710) and Zorgdrager (1720). The same maps
also mark four reefs projecting from the west shore of the sound. On the east
shore they mark Sand Duynen a little south of the three glaciers. Doncker (after
1684) is the first to mark the great glacier at the south end of the east fiord.
Aldert Dirkses bay was named after the Dutch skipper Albert Dirskensz. It
was first marked in Van Keulen's manuscript atlas (c. 1680-90), which Giles and
Rep (c. 1710) followed. North of its entrance is Steyle hoek, marked by Van
Keulen (1689). Further up comes Bangen hoek, marked by Colom (c. 1662) and
Valk and Schenk (c. 1662) in North-East Land by mistake; correctly placed by
Van Keulen (1689) and in later maps.
Just north of Bangen hook is Halfmoon lay, which modern charts call Mossel
bay. It is first marked by Goos (1666), and frequently later. Martens (1671)
knew of it as Muscle harlour or Deer lay. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) are the first
to name it Halfmoon or Mossel bay. Mossel may be a mistake for Mussel, or it
360
Nomenclature
may be the name of some Dutch skipper. There is a Mossel bay in Cape Colony,
and another in Magellan Strait.* Gerrits (1613) mentions one Mossel as Van
Muyden's second in command in 1612, but corrects the statement in an erratum.
The right name is beyond question Hal/moon hay.
The land east of Wyde bay is erroneously named H Zuyd Ooster Landt by
Doncker (1655) and Van Loon (1661). That was the first Dutch appellation for
what is now called North-East land.
The important cape between Wyde bay and Hinlopen strait was the English
Point Desire, probably so named by Marmaduke of Hull in 1612.t It is so marked
on the Muscovy Company's map (1625), though rather vaguely as to position.
The Dutch seem to have had several names for it. Blaeu (1662) calls it Langenes.
Colom (c. 1662) marks it twice over, once as Flacke point and once as Verlegen
hoeck. Valk and Schenk (c. 1662) and Doncker (after 1484) are in doubt, and
name it Grawen hoeck or Flacke point. Van Keulen (1689) calls it Verlegen hook,
Giles and Rep (c. 1710) Vlakke or Verlegen hoek, Zorgdrager (1720) Vlackehoek,
Scoresby (1820) Verlegen Hook. The true name Point Desire should be re-estab-
lished on English charts in place of the Verlegen Hook to which they now give
currency.
The East Coast.
The north end of Hinlopen strait was doubtless known many years before it
was marked on the maps, but the map-makers for some time confused Wyde bay
with it, marking that Way-gat, or indicating as east of Hinlopen strait the land
which is actually east of Wyde bay, thus really marking Wyde bay twice over, on
a small and larger scale, when they intended to mark Hinlopen strait beyond
Wyde bay. Colom's map (about 1662) is thus explained. The strait is believed
to derive its name from Thymen Jacobsz. Hinlopen, a director of the Dutch Com-
pany in 1617 and later. This would indicate its relatively early discovery. The
name De Straet van Hinloopen first appears on Blaeu's map (1662), whilst Colom,
as above stated, also confusedly marks it at the same time (c. 1662), but names it
Waygat, and so do Valk and Schenk (c. 1662). The two names Hinlopen Strait
and Waygat were used interchangeably thenceforward down to Scoresby's day
(1820) and later. The fact that Blaeu (1662) names it Straet proves that his
informant, at least, knew that it was not merely a deep bay. Doncker (1663)
first marks it and some of its side bays with an approach to general truth of form.
Yet Martens in 1771 writes, " It is unknown whether the haven of this Weigatt
(blow-hole) goeth through the country or no."
The first creek in the west coast of the strait, a little south of Point Desire, is
named, on the large and small maps of Giles and Rep (c. 1710), Willem Tolks or
Tollckx haaytje. I have a note that the name is also spelt Volckx, but have lost
the reference. The creek is not marked on modern charts.
Near it, and likewise not marked on our charts, is an island (or rocks), between
Point Desire and Treurenburg bay, first indicated as Piff by Blaeu (1662), and
* Marked on the Mercator-Hondius map of 1633 between Port Famine and Cape
Froward. The Mossel bay in Cape Colony was named in 1601 by the Dutch from the
mussels they found there.
t See the Hakluyt Society's " Baffin," p. 96, and above, p. 50.
The East Coast 361
later marked Luysen Eyland by Doncker (after 1684) and his copyists. Doncker,
in 1663, knew it by name, but marked it by mistake in the mouth of Wyde bay.
Treureriburg bay, made famous by Parry's Arctic expedition, may have derived
its name from the catastrophe which happened to the Dutch whalers there in
1693. Before that date it is systematically named Bear bay (Beere bay) on almost
every Dutch map from 1662 downward. Treureriburg first appears on the Giles
and Bep map (c. 1710) as the name of a hill west of the bay, the bay itself having
no name. Afterwards we find it called Treureriburg or Sorge bay.
Parrot hook, named after " the diving parrot or puffin," is first clearly marked
by Giles and Bep (c. 1710) as a point north of the great glacier whose front fills
so long a stretch of coast north of Lomme bay. It is in approximately 79° 53'
N. lat.
With Lomme bay we reach a region where the nomenclature is very confused.
Evidently knowledge of the topography of Hinlopen strait was gained partly by
ships sailing down from the north and partly by others sailing up from the south.
The former knew Lomme bay ; the latter became familiar with Unicorn bay. The
third bay between them was mistaken in each case for the other bay to north or
south, so that on the early charts only two bays are marked. Thus both Treuren-
burg and Unicorn bays are sometimes marked Lomme bay by mistake. The
three bays were not all plainly marked together till on the Giles and Bep maps
(c. 1710), and it is possible that Giles in 1707 was actually the first skipper to sail
in at one end of Hinlopen strait and out at the other, and thus to behold the three
bays in succession. Lomme bay owes its name to part of this long-continued
misunderstanding. It is derived from Lommeberg. The true Lommeberg was
a hill south of Unicorn bay — that is to say, it stood at the north-east corner of
Barents island. But when Unicorn bay was confused with Lomme bay, Lommeberg
was moved north with it, and the name was applied to the modern Lovens mount.
So confused were Giles and Bep about Lommeberg that they mark it three times
over, north and south of Lomme bay and south of Unicorn bay. Puzzled likewise
about the bays, they call Lomme bay "Lomme bay or Beere bay," and they call
Unicorn bay "Lome bay or the Unicorn's bay."
Duym or Thumb point is marked by Giles and Bep (c. 1710) as a cape about
12 miles south-east of the entrance to Lomme bay, and anchorages are marked
north and south of it. It is north of the series of glaciers descending to the sea
south of Lomme bay. Modern charts mark Tlxumb point as the east extremity
of William island. It should be much further north. About here Blaeu (1662)
vaguely marks a Vlacke hoeck.
Unicorn bay, at the east entrance to Heley sound, was named after a ship. It
is marked by Doncker (1663) as H Schip d'Eenhoorn baij. Thenceforward the
name was marked on many maps.
Heley sound, seen and named in 1617 after William Heley, the English
supercargo, was evidently then known or suspected to be a strait. The fact was
presently forgotten, though about 1662 there seems to have been a suspicion for
a short time that it might be the south end of Hinlopen strait (vide Blaeu's map).
Not till about 1860 was the truth about it known. Yet Helies or Helis sound was
marked upon most maps, from the Muscovy Company's (1625) down to Scoresby's
(1820), always as a creek leading north out of the head of Wybe Jans water.
Nineteenth-century writers (Lamont, for instance) sometimes call it Hell sound.
Poor Heley !
Passing through Heley sound, we come to the great bay or arm of the sea lying
362
Nomenclature
between Spitsbergen on the one hand and Barents and Edge islands on the other.
AVhether its English discoverers gave it a name we cannot say. Was this the
Pudding lay or Hunting lay named in the English list of 1658 ? The Dutch
always knew it as Wyle Jans water, after the Friesland skipper Wybe Jansz. van
Stavoren. The name first appears on G-oos' map (1620). We find it written by
Guerard (1628) Destroict de Jean Suatre. Carolus (1634) and many others after
him call it Wyles gat. The Eussian Trappers' name for it was Titowa Quia.
It is called Stor fiord by modern Scandinavians.
No old charts show the eastward bend of the upper part of Wybes Jans water,
but, as above remarked, make it end off square, with Heley sound running north
out of it. To right and left of the entrance to Heley sound all charts, from the
Muscovy Company's (1625) down to Scoresby's (1820), mark two islands ; and
these, after Valk and Schenk (c. 1662), are named — the west island Walrus
island, the east island Rolle or Seal island. It is impossible to identify these
two islands now. Some think that at least one of them may be enveloped by the
Negri glacier. But, regard being had to their position relative to Heley sound on
the Muscovy Company's map, and to the fact that the English explorers of 1617
doubtless passed between them on their way to Heley sound, they are most
probably identical with the Lamont and Angel islands of modern charts.
Two bays are marked near together on the Muscovy Company's map (1625)
at the north-west corner of Wybe Jans water. They correspond with the bays
north and south of the Negri glacier. On the Muscovy Company's map the north
bay is named Wiches sound, the south bay Wiches lay. Wiches sound was always
called Bear gat (Beere gadt) by the Dutch after Valk and Schenk (1662) had
written that name down. That name should replace the Johnston lay of modern
charts. The Dutch confused the name of Wiches bay, writing it Wliales Wiches
lay (Doncker, 1655 and later) or Whales Withes lay, but modern charts preserve
it correctly.
The Mohn lay of modern charts should be called by its old name Keer Weer,
which Valk and Schenk (1662) first wrote down and later Dutch charts generally
recorded.
The point north of Agardh lay is marked Fox nose on the Muscovy Company's
map (1625), and is still known as Fox ness.
Foul sound is the almost universal name on old charts, from the Muscovy
Company's (1625) down to Scoresby's (1820), for the bay now known as Agardh
lay. Blaeu (1662) calls it Baij met Vuijlerdsen. There are too many " Foul "
bays and sounds in Spitsbergen, so that the Swedes did well to rename this one.
Whales head, the cape just north of Whales bay, was so named on the Muscovy
Company's map (1625), and no other name has ever been given to it.
Whales lay is marked on the Muscovy Company's map (1625), but not named.
It is also indicated, unnamed, by Middlehoven (1634) and Blaeu (1662). The
latter adds two glaciers north of it. The name first appears on modern charts,
upon what authority I cannot discover.
A wreck, an island, or a bay in the south part of the east coast, a little north
of the south cape, is named on Blaeu's map (1662) f Hoi van een Schip.
We have thus completed the circuit of the coast of the main island, and returned
to Cape Lookout at its south extremity, where we started. We have next to
examine the names round the coasts of the other islands.
Barents and Edge Islands 363
Barents Island.
This was not known to be an island, and therefore not named before the middle
( f the nineteenth century. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) by a blunder wrote Zuyd
Oosfer Land on the place it occupies, and the name was repeated by Zorgdrager
(1720) and Scoresby (1820).
Lommenberg, as above stated, is the hill at the north-east corner of Barents
island. It was first marked by Doncker (1663), and afterwards by Goos (1666),
Van Keulen (1689), and others.
Cape Barhham, at the south-west corner of the island, is named on the Muscovy
Company's map, and the name has never been changed, though sometimes misspelt
Bar cam.
The bay in the west coast of Barents island is first marked Vosse bay by Valk
and Schenk (1662), and the name has since retained its place on the map.
Freeman Strait.
Alderman Freeman's inlet was the name given in 1616 or 1617 to the sound
separating Barents and Edge islands. It is so marked on the Muscovy Company's
map (1625). Sir E. Dudley (1630) calls it G. di Bar sum (for Barcam). The Dutch
maps, from Valk and Schenk's (1662) downward, systematically name it Walter
nii/men's fiord. Modern charts preserve both names, but Freeman strait should
have the precedence. Some little islands at its west mouth are named Sir Thomas
Smith's islands. Of all the Spitsbergen sites named after this leader of the
Muscovy Company, this is the only one from which his name has not been
removed.
Edge Island.
Its south coast was first rudely marked by Carolus in 1614. He misnamed it
Morfyn, meaning thereby Marsyn, by mistake for Matsyn. Carolus thought that
the land he saw was Willoughby's Matsyn, really in Novaja Zerolja, but misplaced
by Hondius (1611). The island was rediscovered and named Edge island in 1616.
It is marked Edges Hand on the Muscovy Company's map (1625), Beare Hand
by Sir R. Dudley (1630). In the Dutch Company's charter of 1634 it is called
Staaten Land. Valk and Schenk (1662) name it Whales Wiches Landt by some
freak. Giles and Rep (c. 1710) are responsible for introducing a new confusion by
naming it Stans Voorland, a blunder perpetuated by Zorgdrager (1720) and the
Scandinavians. The real Stone Foreland will be presently explained. The Russian
trappers called this island Maloy Brun.
Lee Foreland ; Stone Foreland. — The Muscovy Company's explorers in 1616
and 1617 only saw the west part of Edge island, and its north and south coasts
trending away to the eastward. They named the north coast Zee Foreland, the
south coast Stone Foreland. We shall consider the latter name presently. On
the Muscovy Company's map (1625) Cape Blank is marked as the west extremity
of Lee Foreland, and this meaning of the names seems to have been preserved
down to about 1662, as is very clearly shown on Colom's map (c. 1662). Then the
names get adrift, first on Valk and Schenk's map (1662). At last, on Doncker's
map (after 1684), Lee Foreland becomes definitely the cape named C. Lee on
modern charts, whilst C. BlanJco, drifting south, attached itself to the first cape it
364
Nomenclature
came to. This arrangement was stereotyped by Van Keulen (1689) and has since
been maintained.
Duke's cove was the name of a bay in the west coast of Edge island. It is
written in the form Duckes Coue on Sir R. Dudley's map (1630), which contains
several features in the west coast of Edge island that seem to be derived from
English sources and yet are not found on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). It
follows that they must have been taken from the Hull men's discoveries. Duckes
Cove is included in the English official list of 1658. The name Duke's cove was
perhaps derived from Marniaduke of Hull, the chief explorer and early frequenter
of these parts. He is often referred to as Duke. Probably the English Duckes
Cove became Dusko in Dutch mouths. That name first appears on Doncker's map
(1663), applied to a point on the west coast of Edge island, and frequently after-
wards. Scoresby (1820) is the first to misspell it Disco. The real Spitsbergen
Disco was further east. Duke's cove may have been the Disco bay or the Gotha
cove of modern charts. According to Dudley's map (1630), it was sheltered by an
island and a reef. The Hunting bay of the English official list of 1657 was probably
the modern Disco bay.
The south-west extension of Edge island is split into two great promontories by
Decrowe sound. These promontories end in the capes Whales point and Negro
point. They were first rudely depicted by Carolus (1614) and named Onbekende
Kust and Morfyn respectively. The Muscovy Company's map (1625) first shows
them with a rough veracity, and gives them the names they have tince retained,
Whales head and Negro point. Early Dutch charts show them far less truthfully,
separating them widely, the west point being nameless, the other named Sivarte-
hoeck. Whales head is named Athale head by Sir E. Dudley (1630). The first
Dutch map on which Whales head is marked is Doncker's (1655), after which it is
commonly found.
Deicrowe's sound was named, in 1616, after Benjamin Decrowe, who, in 1610
and afterwards, was a leading man in the Muscovy Company. The name is marked
on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). On Sir R. Dudley's (1630) the bay is
called O. Athale. Middelhoven (1634) names it Londen bay. Doncker (1655) is
the first Dutch map-maker to mark it Deicrowe's sound, adding the alternative
name Deeve bay. The two names have lingered on together ever since, sometimes
tending to separate, and then coming together once more.
A cove near the mouth of Deicrowe's sound, a little north of Negro point,
is named Bear haven on the Muscovy Company's map (1625). It is the Barem bay
of modern charts.
Negro point was named by the English in 1616. The Dutch translated it
Swarthoeck, and that name already appears on Goos' map (1620), and generally
thenceforward. Middelhaven (1634) alone records against it the designation Dictus
point, whatever that may mean.
Blaeu (1662) marks St. Jacob bay opposite St. Jacob island. If that island
was, as it appears to have been, Halfmoon island, the bay in question must have
been the same as the modern Diana bay. But as Blaeu marks his bay east of the
glacier, which he calls De groote Tsbergh, and as the great King John glacier is the
only one that reaches the sea hereabouts, Blaeu's St. Jacob bay would seem to have
been away to the eastward, approximately where it is marked on modern charts.
Stone Foreland, as already stated in connection with Lee Foreland, is really
the eastward extension of the south-east coast as seen from the south-west. It is
marked on the Muscovy Company's map (1625) and thenceforward, the Dutch
North-East Land 365
spelling it Stans Voorland. The name is now correctly applied to the south-east
cape, as Lee Foreland should be applied to the north-east cape. Zorgdrager (1720)
was the first to move the name away from the coast and apply it to Edge island as
a whole, thus misleading the Scandinavians.
Giles and Rep (c. 1710) mark Disco just south of the east cape of Edge island.
A little south-west of it they mark Visschery van Walvisschen. Zorgdrager (1720),
and Scoresby (1820), in text and maps, repeat these indications.
Round the south of Edge island are a number of smaller islands, which may be
the Plurime Insille identified with Willoughby's Matsyn by Hondius (1611).
They are first distinctly marked by Carolus (1614), who indicates a shoal to the
east of one, perhaps intended for Halfmoon island or even Hope island. Some
Dutch charts give names to some of these islands, but only Hal/moon island can
be identified with reasonable certainty. It is the Abbots I. of the Muscovy
Company's map (1625), the St. Jacob of Blaeu (1662). Doncker (1663) first marks
it Halvemaens eyl., and his example was commonly followed by later map-makers.
Valk and Schenk (1662) were the first to indicate a great vague mass of islands
stretching round the coast, which they and most later map-makers describe as
Laeg gebroJcen Land. I think it was Scoresby who replaced this description by
the popular name the Thousand islands — a name in no wise corresponding with
facts. They appear to be the Hopeless islands of Sir R. Dudley's map (1630).
The Eyk Yse islands, discovered by the Dutch skipper of that name in 1640,
were confused by Scoresby with Wiche islands. Doncker (1663) is the first to
mark them, which shows how the map-makers lagged behind in their information,
preferring to copy one another rather than to obtain new information from the
skippers themselves.
Hope island, discovered in 1613, probably by Marmaduke of Hull, and named
by him after his own ship the Hopewell, is marked on the Muscovy Company's
map (1625) and almost all later maps. The name has escaped change.
Wiche Islands.
This group of islands, vaguely and wrongly marked, evidently from hearsay
only, on the Muscovy Company's map, were seen and named by the English
in 1617, probably from the Lommeberg near Heley sound on Barents island.
Smith's or North-East Land.
The south point of this was sighted by the English in 1617, apparently from
the same point and at the same time as Wiche islands. They named it Sir Thomas
Smyth's Hand, and its south part is so marked on the Muscovy Company's map
(1625). Blaeu (1662) gives the name Oostlandt to all the land east of Hin-
lopen strait, and writes on it Hit zijn alte mael Eylanden. Valk and Schenk
(1662) call this region Nieuw Vriesland, a name which Giles and Rep (c. 1710)
transfer elsewhere. Doncker (1663) first marks Smith's Land with more distinct-
ness, indicating its north and west coasts and separating it from the Seven islands.
It is a little more decidedly indicated by him in a later map (after 1684), and
similarly by Van Keulen (1689). Giles and Rep (c. 1710) are the first to
represent it with approximate truth, and name it Het Noord Ooster Land. Zorg-
3 66
Nomenclature
drager (1720) follows them. Martens (1671) knew as " the South-West Land "
all the land east of Hinlopen strait. The old name Smith Land has been tenta-
tively revived on late editions of the Admiralty chart.
Even Giles and Hep's maps (1710) are very vague about names in this region,
and those they give cannot always be identified with definite points. Still less
can we be sure which were the points intended to be defined on the Muscovy
Company's chart (1625) by the names Deicrovje's Desire (a cape), I. Purchas plus
ultra (an island), and Point Purchas. Probably, as Hakluyt headland was the
name given by the English to the extreme north-west point of Spitsbergen as
a whole, Point Purchas was the extreme north-east point seen by them, and
corresponds therefore to the North cape of Smith Land. Purchas plus ultra island
will then be Low island, and Deicroive's Desire the modern Shoal point.
The llluys haven marked by Giles and Kep (c. 1710) apparently corresponds
with the North bay of the modern Murchison hay.
The low promontory called Great Stone Land takes its name from the Groote
steen marked by Giles and Eep apparently close to the Marble point of our charts.
The west extremity of Great Stone land is mentioned by Martens (1671) as Shoal
point. It is probably the old Deicrowe's Desire above referred to.
Low island must be the Purchas plus ultra J. of the Muscovy Company's
map (1625). It is H Lage eyl. of Giles and Eep (c. 1710).
Brandyivine bay was well known to the old Dutch whalers, and doubtless
occupied the position of Brandy bay on our charts. Doncker (1663) first marked
it, and it is often found on later maps. Hoepstock bay came further on, according
to Zorgdrager's text (1720) ; it will have been the Bird bay of modern charts. If
named after Mathys Jansz. Hoepstock, a Dutch skipper who was in Spitsbergen
in 1616, it must have been an early discovery. The whole of this coast, however,
was probably visited long before the map-makers took notice of it. In 1618 an
Enkhuizen skipper is said to have identified the Seven islands (Muller, N. Co.,
p. 180). Can this man have been Hoepstock ?
Point Purchas was doubtless the North cape of Smith Land, or rather the north
cape of an island just separated from Smith Land by a narrow strait. The Dutch,
according to Muller (N. Co., p. 180), called it Cape Tabin, and in 1624 sent a ship
to try and sail beyond it, but without success. Giles and Eep (c. 1710) name it
Uyterste hoeh or Uyterste Land. Scoresby (1820) knew it as Black point. The
name Point Purchas or Cape Tabin should be restored to it.
If the Seven islands, as claimed, were seen in 1618, it was long before they
appeared in any map. Doncker (1663) was the first to introduce them, and he was
copied by Goos (1666) and others. Martens saw them in 1671, when they were
well known. Doncker (after 1684) introduces confusion by marking, further north
and separate from them, two larger islands, which he names Hooybergh and Taaff el-
berg. We cannot now identify them. They recur on old maps after Doncker.
Giles and Eep (c. 1710) were the first to put the Seven islands into approximately
their right position, with Eooyberg and Tafelberg amongst them — the two west
islands. They also mark Klip and AmbeeVt as others of the group. Phipps (1773)
did something to improve the representation of the group, and added Walden
island to the map.
Vlak island, marked by Giles and Eep (c. 1710), seems to be the Scoresby I. of
our charts. Their Beene Eyl, marked with an anchorage to the east, may be the
modern Cape Platen. They also were the first to mark and name Outgar Bep
island after one of themselves, and Walrus island, probably the Foyns O of
List of Harbours
367
Nathorst's map. Their Duyve (dove) hay, at the north-east corner of Smith Land,
is not identifiable.
Just off the north-east point of Smith Land, the modern Cape Leigh Smith,
Giles, in 1707, discovered the island marked on his and Rep's map Een Groot hoog
Eyland; and away to the east Giles sighted the large island which he proudly
named Commandeur Giles Land, and of which he wrote on the Giles and Rep chart
ontdekt 1 707 is hoog Land.
Though he circumnavigated Smith Land, he named no other points except the
south cape, which he called de Zuyd hoek, a name that has been well replaced in
our own days by that of Cape Torell.
APPENDIX.
[State papers, Domestic, Interregnum, vol. 179, January, February, 1658, No.
11 (2).]
The following list is annexed to a report of a discussion relative to whaling
matters held in the Council of State on December 14, 1657 : —
" The Names op the Severall Haebors in Greenland, and the Degrees of
Latitdde.
Point Looke Out being in the height of
Hornesound and Mottle Bay
Bell Sound and Bottle Cove
Greenharbor and Port Nick
Osbornes Inlett
Fowle Sound
Cove Comfortlesse
Deere Sound
Crosse Road
Crooke Haven
Knotty Point
Maudlyn Sound
Faire Haven
Foxes Point, etc
Foreland
Sir Thomas Smith's Bay
Pudding Bay to the eastwards
Deicrowes Bay and others
Duckes Cove
Hunting Bay
Potty Harbor
Degrees.
76|
77
77!
78
78|
79
79|
79|
79§
79|
79§
79|
79§
80
79
77
77£
77|
78
77"
Point Lookout is South cape. Mottle bay is a cove in the south side of Horn
sound. Bottle cove (Willem van Muyen's haven) is identified from Pellham's
" God's Power and Providence " as a cove open to the south-west in the north shore
of Bell sound, outside Axel island. Port Nick is Safe haven. Osborne inlet is
368
Nomenclature
St. John's bay. Cove Comfortless is English bay. Fowl sound is Foreland sound.
Deere sound is King's bay. Crookehaven may be Hamburger bay. Knotty point
is a point between Hamburger bay and the South gat. Foxes point is Flat hook.
Sir Thomas Smith's bay is the north end of Foreland sound. I cannot identify
Pudding bay (in Wybe Jans water). Deicrowes bay is in Edge island; so is
Duke's cove. Hunting bay is probably the Disco bay of modern charts in the west
coast of Edge island.
INDEX.
[The chronological list of recent voyages, the bibliography, cartography, and nomen-
clature, at the end of the book, pp. 301-368, are not comprised in this Index, their
arrangement being such as to facilitate reference to their contents.]
Accident from a glacier calving, 125
Advent Bay, see Adventure Bay
Advent Point, Russian and Norwegian
huts on, 260
Adventure Bay, 202
Agreement of 1614 between English and
Dutch, 67
Alabaster Hook, 173
Aldborough whalers, 53, 63, 95, 101
Aldert Dirkses Bay, Russian hut near,
253, 261
Amsterdam Island, 67, 68, 69, 95, 174,
188-190, 213, 300, see Smeerenburg
Amsterdam whalers, 49, 52, 57, 59, 65,
74, 92, 94, 108, 133, 136, 185
Amsterdam, Whalers' warehouses at, 168
Andersen, Captain, suspected of murder
in Spitsbergen, 270
Anderson, Launcelot, of Hull, 161 note,
199, 202
— Thomas, of Hull, 131, 192
Anderson Islands, Russian hut on, 259
Andree Island, Russian hut on, 240, 259
Andree's Balloon House, 182
Annexation of Spitsbergen attempted by
England, 65
Arc of Meridian, Measurement of, on
Spitsbergen, 290, 291
Archipelago, 174
Arctic Expeditions, Danish, 194
— English, 278-283,
287-289, 291-298
— Russian, 263-265
Art, Works of, representing the Dutch
whale-fishery or Spitsbergen, 211, 289
Ashe, Francis, Governor of the Green-
land Company, 195
Axel Island, 34, 37, 58, 142, 143, 198
— Russian hut on, 260, 264
Ayers, Thomas, whale-cutter, 148 note,
150, 162, 163
Bacstrom visits Spitsbergen and the
Russian huts, 232, 238, 240, 249,
266
Baffin, William, 51-53, 61-82
Bar in Foreland Sound, 15, 46
Barents' first voyage in 1594, 9
second voyage in 1595, 10
third voyage in 1596, 11
Barents takes possession of Spitsbergen,
13
winters at Ice Haven in Novaja
Zemlja, 15
Barents' record destroyed by Marmaduke,
50
— death, 16
— relics, 19
Barents Island, 103, 207, 230
Barker, Captain Andrew, 63
Barkham (or Barcam), Cape, 102
Barren, Cape, see Vogelsang
Barrington, the Hon. Daines, 229, 238,
277, 278 _
Barrow, Sir John, Secretary to the
Admiralty, 287
Bart, Jean, the corsair, 217, 218, 224
Basque and French whalers, 35, 40, 42,
43, 48, 52, 53, 58, 59, 60, 62, 69, 84,
100, 107, 131, 132, 144, 166, 167, 183,
202, 223
Basques Bay, 171, 261
Bastion of Wapping, Thomas, 50
Batten of Yarmouth, 144, 145
Battisz., Tennis, 129
Bear hunt, Nelson's, 281
— hunts, 12, 159, 160, 174, 208, 211,
235, 257, 269, 298
Bear's liver, Effect of eating, 159, 274
Bears brought home alive, 184
Bear skin, the largest recorded, 210
Bear Island discovered and named, 11,
12
C.
24
37o
Index
Bear Island first seen by English and
named Cherry Island by
them, 20
visited, 20, 21, 30, 31, 45, 46,
48, 61, 63, 269, 272, 273, 288
Beaufoy, Colonel, his "Enquiries," 250,
261
Beechey, Lieutenant, 261, 289, 292
Beere Bay, see Treurenberg Bay
Behouden Haven, see Safe Haven
Bell Point, 33, 148
Bell Sound, 15, 28, 33, 36, 62, 66, 67, 68,
84, 91, 97, 107-110, 125,
128, 132, 138, 142, 147-164,
190, 192, 193, 195-199, 202,
203, 231, 300
— Whalers' huts at, 84, 91, 92,
108, 137, 142, 149, 151-164,
203, 206
Bussian huts in, 260, 264,
265, 272
the Bock in (Axel Island), 142
Bennet, Stephen, voyages to Bear Island,
20, 21, 43, 45
Beverly Island, 297
Beversham, James, 107
Bird Island, 297
Birds in Spitsbergen, 160
Biscay privateers, 92, 183
Biscay whalers, see Basque whalers
Biscay whales, 38
Biscayers Hook, see Welcome Point
Black Point, 46
Black Point on the Foreland, 147
Black-point Isle (the Foreland) named, 34
Block, Adriaen, 83
Blubber tried out on board ship, 69
— brought home for treatment, 186
Bolschoy Brown, Bussian name for West
Spitsbergen, 234
Bonner, Thomas, 31, 52, 61, 63
"Bonny Boat" brought from Spitsbergen
to Hull, 63
Bordeaux whalers, 53, 63
Bottle Cove (see Van Muijen Cove), 142,
143, 149, 151, 163, 192, 198
Bowles Bay, see Goosehaven
Braem, a Danish whaler, 128, 131, 134,
166, 167
Brandewyn Bay, 207, 294
Bristol whalers, 41
British Training Squadron visits Spits-
bergen, 300
Broad Bay, 73
Brunei, Oliver, developes the Dutch
White Sea trade, 9
Buchan, Captain, 179, 268, 288, 289, 292
Burrough's Expedition in 1556, 7
"Carcass," H.M.S., 278-283
Carleton, English Envoy at the Hague, 121
Carlsen, Captain, circumnavigates Spits-
bergen, 230
Carolus, Joris, 74-81
Caron, Sir Noel de, 131
Castlins Point (Verlegen Hook), 72, 294
— Russian hut on, 294
Catcher, Captain, 126, 127, 132
Catherine II of Russia sends an Arctic
Expedition, 263-265
Cave, William, 175, 176
Chambers, Captain, 125
Cherry, Sir Francis, 8, 20
Cherry Island, see Bear Island
Christiansbergen, Danish name for Spits-
bergen, 134
Christianshaffen, Danish name for Mauri-
tius Bay, 134
Cibourre sacked by Spaniards, 183
Civil War, the English, its effect upon
the whale-fishery, 191, 193
Clavering, Captain, 290
Close Cove (Cross Bay), 44, 45, 228
— Russian hut in, 249, 261
named, 34
Cloven Cliff, 13, 71, 293
Coal Haven in King's Bay, 26, 36, 261
Cock, Cornells de, 94, 96-100, 112-120
Cold, Cape, 63
"Cold Yeare" 1614, 67
Coles Park, 150
Colledg, Richard, killed, 177
Colledg, Thomas, imprisoned, 177
Collins, Wm, 22, 25, 26
Collins Cape, 25, 27, 28, 284-287
Colonisation of Spitsbergen, Attempts at,
104, 150, 170, 172
Commons, House of, and the whale-
fishery, 191, 192, 195-199
Cookeries in Holland, 186, 188
— in Spitsbergen, 44, 46, 48, 55,
66, 68, 84-89, 94, 129, 135-
138, 151, 152-164, 182, 188,
189, 197, 208, 266, 289
Cornelisz., Huybrecht, 94, 112-119
Council of State and the whale-fishery,
193, 194
Cove Comfortless (English Bay), 45, 47,
55, 68, 89
Russian hut in, 261
Cross Bay, see Close Cove
Cross Road (Ebeltoft Haven), 36, 45,
48, 67, 82, 101, 115, 192,
198, 199
Russian huts at, 261, 271
— named, 35
Crowe of Hammerfest, Vice-consul, 269,
271, 272, 290, 293, 299
Cudner, supercargo, 53, 95
Cunningham, Sir John, 82, 105
Danes Gat, see Middle Gat
Danes Island, 68, 166, 182, 189
Daniel, John, cartographer, 47, 49
Danish scientific Arctic Expedition of
1653, 194
Index
37i
Danish whalers, 95, 124, 128, 131, 132,
166-168, 182, 185, 218, 219, 222,
226
Deadman Island, 179, 279
Deadman Point, Eussian hut on, 260
Deceit, Point, 73
Deer Sound named, 34
see King's Bay
Deicrowe, or Decrow, Benjamin, 100,
127
Deicrowe Sound, 78, 102, 250
a Eussian outpost, 240
Delft porcelain, Stone for it fetched from
Spitsbergen, 173 note
— whalers, 65, 80, 107, 133, 136, 185,
193
Denmark's claims as to the whale-
fishery, 42, 82, 83, 105, 128, 134, 168,
184
Derelict whaler, a, 188
De Veer, Gerrit, describes Barents'
voyages, 10, 16, 30
Dickson Bay, 260
Digby, Lord, 122
Disco, 129, 147
Disco Bay, a Eussian outpost, 240
Division of Spitsbergen bays between
Dutch and English, 124, 167
Dog, the Spitsbergen, 3, 254
Doncker's Atlas, 201, 207, 208
"Dorothea," H.M.S., 268, 288
"Dragon," an armed ship, 96, 98-101,
113
Duke's Cove, 103, 129 note
Dun Islands, the, 260, 265, 270
Dunkerque privateers, 139, 147, 183,
217
— whalers, 53, 57, 62, 69, 91,
95
Duppers, an English Interloper in 1608,
43
Dupplin, Lord, protests against inter-
ference with whalers employed by the
Scotch, 145, 165
Diirer, drawing of a walrus by, 31
— travels to see a whale, 39
Dusko, 129 note (see Disco Bay)
Dutch and English maritime rivalry, 9,
20, 49, 65
Dutch Bay, see Mauritius Bay
Dutch embassies about the whale-fishery,
64, 122, 131
— whaling charters and commissions,
53, 106, 130, 171, 172, 175, 187
Duynkercker, J. J., 167
East India Company, 105
Ebeltoft Haven, see Cross Eoad
Eders Island, 37, 58
Edge, Thomas, 30, 43, 45-52, 63, 66,
83, 90, 91, 96, 97, 106-110, 115, 125,
126, 127
Edge Island, 207, 208, 271, 273
Edge Island, discoveries about, 67, 78, 90,
101-104, 128, 129, 131
fisheries (see also Disco),
66, 129, 146, 208, 224
frequented by Eussian
trappers, 234, 236, 240,
250
Edwards, Nathaniel, soap-maker, 144,
145, 175, 183
Eider-down collected at Spitsbergen, 269,
271
Ekman Bay, 260
Elesmere Bay, Lord (Sardam Bay), 58 note
Empressment, Spitsbergen sailors exempt
from, 182, 193, 199
English Bay,s^e Fairhaven( south harbour)
see Cove Comfortless
English Cove, see Trinity Harbour
Engroneland, 3, 83
Enkhuizen whalers, 52, 61, 65, 74, 80,
106, 108-116, 136
Everest, Dr, 250, 273
Fair Foreland, see Vogelhoek
Fairhaven, explored by Barents, 13, 14
— surveyed by Fotherby, 71
surveyed by Buchan, 289
meaning of the name, 67
the modern harbour under
Vogelsang, 279, 289, 290
Eussian huts at, 240, 249,
261, 266, 272
the north or Dutch harbour
(Smeerenburg), 67, 68, 73,
75, 76, 84, 89, 91, 107,
293
the south or English harbour,
66, 67, 68, 73, 84, 89, 107,
125, 127, 128, 130, 132,
133, 170, 189, 219
— abandoned by the English,
138, 170
Fallengriin, a Norwegian hunter, 269, 271
Fanne, Nathaniel, 132, 133
Fight between Dutch and English in
Horn Sound, 117
Fight between London and Yarmouth
whalers, 175
Fletcher of Aldborough, 53, 63
Floyd, Midshipman, 279
Flushing whalers, 94-101, 107, 126, 136
Foreland, Prince Charles, 23, 28, 34, 36,
46, 50, 54, 147, 213, 278
Foreland, Prince Charles, Eussian huts
on, 248, 260, 266
Foreland Sound, 14, 23, 24, 34, 44, 46,
50, 55
Foster, Lieutenant, 292, 293, 297
Foster Islands, 297
Fotherby, Eobert, 50-60, 66-79, 82-85
Foul Bay, see Fowl Bay
Fowl Bay (Zeeland Bay), 77, 173
Fowle Sound, see Foreland Sound
372
Index
Fox Glacier, 56
Fox Nose in Foreland Sound, 113
Franklin, Lieut. John, 268, 288, 292
Freeman, Alderman Ralph, 127
Freeman Inlet, Alderman, 102
French frigates in Spitsbergen waters,
215, 218-223, 284
— whaling companies, 128, 166, 187,
198
— whalers {see also Basque whalers),
194, 198, 199, 202, 208
Friesland whalers, 171, 172, 182, 201
Frost-bite, Remedy for, 216
Geese, Bernaele, discovery of their nesting
places, 13
Generaels Hoeck (S. Cape), 78
Gerrits, Hessel, 31, 51. 55, 63, 64,
78, 83
Giles, Captain Cornelis, Voyage in 1707,
207, 228-231
Giles and Rep's Chart, 230, 294, 297,
298
Giles Land, 229-231
Ginevra Bay, 102
Glacier expeditions, 56
Golf, 16
Goodlad or Goodlard, Captain William,
127, 132, 143, 146, 163, 175-177
Goosehaven (Bowles Bay) in Horn Sound,
61, 175
Gotha Cove, 103
Russian outpost in, 240
Gottenburg whalers, 232
Gouwenaer, Captain Jacob de, 74
Gouwenaers Bay in Jan Mayen, 79
Green Harbour, 49, 57, 63, 91, 132,
138, 147, 148, 150, 192,
195, 198, 199, 231, 273,
299
Russian and Norwegian
huts in, 260, 272, 273
named, 36
Greenland, the name applied to Spits-
bergen, 83
Company, successors to the
whaling rights of the
Muscovy Company, 127,
131, 138, 140, 142, 143,
144, 164, 165, 166, 175,
177, 182, 184, 192-199, 202
Grey, Mr, 147, 203
Grey Hook, 50, 72, 265, 289
"Griper," H.M.S., 290
Groote Vogel Bay, see Fowl Bay
Grooten Inwyck, 15, 23
Grotius, Hugo, 52, 64, 83
Gijsen, Pieter, 137
Haarlem, Cookery of, 182 note
Hakluyt Headland, 69, 70
— named, 27
Halfmoon Island, 78, 129
Hamburg whalers, 187, 213, 219, 222,
225, 226, 231, 290
Hamburg, Train-oil cookery at, 188
Hamburger Bay, 187, 261
— Russian trappers in,
261, 268
Hamkes, Captain Gale, 185
Harlingen, the cookery of, 182, 189
Harlingen whalers, 172, 182, 185
Hammerfest sloops, 269-274
Hawes, Andrew, 144, 145
"Heartsease," Marmaduke's ship, 31
"Hecla," H.M.S., 291-298
Hecla Cove, 294, 295, 297, 298
Heemskerk, captain of Barents' ship in
1596, 10, 11
Heley, William, 95, 96, 98-101, 107-119,
125, 126, 127, 128, 132
Heley Sound, 102, 103, 207, 230
Herod's Daughters, 242
Heuglin, M. Th. von, 259, 260
Himkof, Alexis and Ivan, Russian trap-
pers, cast away on East Spitsbergen,
234
Hinlopen, Hinloopen, or Hindeloopen
Strait, 147, 188, 207,
214, 216, 223, 230
— surveyed, 297
Hoarth, a whaling adventurer, 145, 166,
175, 177, 183, 198, 199
Hofer Point, Russian hut on, 260
Hold-with-Hope in Greenland, 45
Hollandsche Bay, see Mauritius Bay
Honig, Mr G. J., 209, 210, 223, 224
Hoorn whalers, 53, 65, 80, 106, 108-121,
136, 186
Hope Island, 101, 208, 250
discovered, 62, 103, 131
"Hopewell," Hudson's ship, 23, 30, 50
— Marmaduke's ship, 46, 50
Horn Sound, 61, 62, 67, 84, 97, 125, 126,
132, 138, 192, 193, 195,
198, 199, 201
— discovered and named, 33
Russian huts in, 260, 269
— Tragedy in, 270
Whalers' huts at, 111, 138,
201
Houcker Bay (Virgo Bay), 182
Hudson's Touches (Jan Mayen Island)
discovered and named, 30
Hudson's voyage in 1607, 22-30
Hull, Trinity House, 63
Hull soap-makers, 140
Hull whalers and walrus hunters, 30, 31,
32, 41, 45, 50, 63, 98, 129, 131, 142,
143, 145, 151, 161, 165, 185, 192, 194,
203
Hull whalers destroy the London settle-
ment in Bell Sound, 142, 143
Hull whalers' stations in Spitsbergen, 142
Hyperite Island in Hinlopen Strait,
Russian hut on, 261
Index
373
Ice Bay, a name for Recherche Bay, 125,
126, 132
Ice Point, 37
Ice Sound, 15, 22, 23, 34, 36, 57, 67, 84,
138, 147, 195, 198, 300
Iceland, Whaling off, 41, 166, 167
Icy season, the most icy on record, 208
Indraught, the Great, 23
Interlopers, Dutch, 8. 49, 52, 53
English, 30, 31, 43, 45, 50,
53, 63, 95, 97, 107, 112,
144, 145, 175
Inwyck, 15
Isbiorn Haven, Russian hut in, 260
Isbuschka, see Russian trappers' huts
James I, 51, 53, 63, 70, 82, 115, 122, 131,
141
Jan Mayen Island discovered, 29, 32, 79,
103
Cookeries at, 92, 167, 169
Dutch settlement pillaged by
Basques, 167
whale-fishery, 84, 91, 92, 93,
94, 95, 106, 108, 135, 167
Wintering at, 170, 172
Jan Meys Hoeck in Jan Mayen, 79
Johnson, Captain, 106
Joseph, Benjamin, 52, 61, 66, 67, 83, 110
Joseph Bay (Recherche Bay), 56, 58
Keerenskaar, a shoal, 186
Keerwyck, 15
Kees, Captain Jonge, 209, 210, 216
— Captain Cusve, his adventure on
one of the Seven Icebergs, 200,
209, 212, 216
Keilhau, Prof. B. M., 250, 259, 260, 261,
268, 270, 272, 273, 298, 299
Keilhau Bay, Russian huts at, 238, 246,
250-253, 276
Eijn, Dutch supercargo, 50
Kijunaes, 50
King Carl's Land (Wiche Islands), 103
King John Glacier, 129
King's Bay, 25, 26, 28, 34, 36, 44, 138,
192, 299
Russian huts in, 249, 261,
266, 268
Klaas Bille Bay in Ice Sound, 215
Klaasz. Bille, Captain Cornells, 215
Klok Bay, see Bell Sound
Knotty Point, 34
Kobbe Bay, see Robbe Bay
Kiihn's visit to Spitsbergen, 231
Laing, Surgeon John, 268, 284
Lammas Island, 29
Lamont, James, 208, 246, 252, 259, 276,
279
La Rochelle whalers, 53, 63
Laud, Archbishop, 177
Lead discovered on Bear Island, 31
Lee, Cape, a Russian outpost, 240
Lee Foreland, 102
Legends connected with Spitsbergen, 3,
242-245, 254
Leonin, a Spanish naturalist, 184, 225
Le Koy, P. L., his book on the adventures
of the four Russian sailors, 237
Leversttin, Abraham Dz., 109, 110, 111,
116
Liefde Bay, see Wiche Sound
Little Table Island, 294, 295
Lodjes, Russian vessels called, 238, 261,
275, 276
Log-books, origin of, 7
Lomme Bay, 207
Lommeberg, 207
Loven, Prof. Sven, 273, 299, 300
Low Island, 280, 295, 297
Low Ness, 34, 260
Low Sound, 37, 50, 58, 143, 260
— named, 34
Lowenigh, Herr von, visits Spitsbergen,
250
Lutwidge, Commander, 278, 281, 282,
296
Lynn whalers, 144
Magdalena Bay, 69, 91, 138, 167, 170,
171, 228, 231, 232, 279,
288, 300
discovered, 14
Russian hut in, 261
Mail boat of the English at Spitsbergen,
132
Makkelyk Oud, 228
Maleperdus, Mount, named, 21
Maloy Brown, Russian name for Edge
Island, 234
" Mauche, La," French cruiser, visits
Spitsbergen, 300
Mandt, M. W., visits Spitsbergen in 1821,
290
Marimuts Bay at Jan Mayen, 92
Marmaduke, Thomas, 31, 32, 45, 46, 47,
50, 52, 61, 62, 66, 71, 72, 78, 79, 97,
101-103, 126, 129, 192
Marmier, Xavier, 274
Marooning on Spitsbergen, 275
Marri met de Brosten Mount, 214, 228
Martens, F., 137, 179, 188-190. 213, 214,
225, 232, 276
Martenszoon, Arend, 11
Martin, A. R., visits Spitsbergen, 231
Mason, Captain, 132, 147 note, 163
Matsyn, 78, 102
Mauritius or Dutch Bay (Fairhaven), 68,
94, 124, 126, 131, 134, 187, 228, 266-
268
Mauritius Island, see Jan Mayen Island
May, Captain J. Jz., 74
Maydens Pappes, a hill on the Foreland,
147
Mazarin, Cardinal, protects whalers, 187
24—3
374
Index
Merchant Adventurers, the Company of,
6, 7
Merchant Tailors Hall, 122
Mettle Bay (in Horn Sound), 192, 198
Mezen, Trappers from, 233, 234, 238
" Michael de Aristega," a ship or captain
of St Jean de Luz, 59, 62
Middelburg whalers, 94, 107, 114, 136
Middelhoven's Map, 171
Middle Gat, West Bay, South Bay, or
Danes Gat, 173, 174, 186, 189, 227
Misery, Mount, named, 21
Mitra Hook or Mitre Cape, see Collins
Cape
Moffen Island, 231, 279, 280
Mohn, Cape, 104
Monier, Anthoni, 66, 67, 76, 77
Monier Bay, see Bed-cliff Sound
Morfyn, see Matsyn
Mossel Bay, 293, 295
Bussian hut in, 261
Moucheron, Balthasar, 9
Muscovy Company, 7, 8, 20, 21, 32, 33,
37, 42, 43, 48, 49,
51, 52, 53, 63, 64,
65, 70, 82, 83, 91,
92,96,98,102,104,
105, 127, 150
see Greenland Com-
pany
Muscovy Company's claim for damages,
111, 119, 141, 194
Muscovy Company sells its whaling rights
in 1620 to a new corporation, 127
Muscovy Company's Mount, 33
Narwhal tusk, 89, 90
Nathorst, Dr, 231
Navy, the British, 8, 141, 199
state of, in 1618, 122
Negro Point, 78
Nelson, Horatio, in Spitsbergen waters,
278-282
Nemtinof, Lieut. Michael, 264
Newfoundland, Whaling off, 41
Newland, a name for Spitsbergen, 22,
25, 27, 28, 70, 83, 130, 166
Niches Cove, see Safe Haven
Noordsche Company, the Dutch, 50, 65,
80, 83, 84, 92, 94, 106, 129, 130, 167-
172, 182, 185, 187, 191
Noordsche Company's warehouses at
Amsterdam, 168
Nordenskiold, 45, 291, 294, 299
North, Thomas, 193
North Bank, 186
— East Land, see Smith Island
— Gat or North Bay, 167, 173, 186,
227
Norway Islands (Zeeusche Uytkyk), 13,
67, 94, 227, 279, 289, 290
Norwegian hunters, 246, 247, 2W, 261,
268-275, 290, 291
Norwegian sailors, Adventures of four,
273
Novaja Zemlja, 10, 15, 18, 102, 129, 130,
195, 226, 238, 269
— discovered, 6, 102
Observatory Hill, 265, 300
Oostsanan, Train-oil cookeries at, 188
Osborne, John, of Worcester, invents .
new use for whalebone, 140
Osborne Inlet, Bussian hut in, 261
Ouwers, a Spanish spy, 141
P. P. v. S., his book, 208, 211, 215, 216
225
Panorama of the north coast, 289
Parrot Hook, 217
Parry's Expedition, 250, 289, 291-298
Partition, Point, 34, 37
Pellham, Edward, his wintering and
journal, 146-164, 170
Perkins, B., 142, 143
Pet and Jackman's Expedition in 1580, 7
Peter the Great, 227
Peterhead whalers, 293
Peterson, Captain Adriaen, 112-120, 127
Peyrere, Isaac de la, his Relation du
Groenlande, 184
Phipps, Hon. Constantine John (after-
wards Lord Mulgrave), his Arctic Ex-
pedition, 278-2 S3, 289, 297
Phipps Island, 281
Pike, Arnold, his wintering hut, 182
— visits Giles Land, 230
Pindar, Sir Paul, his great diamond, 140
Playse, John, 22, 24, 26, 30
Plymouth soap-makers, 140
Poole, Jonas, 21, 30, 31, 33, 43, 44, 45,
46, 47, 48, 50
— Bandolph, 47
Poopy Bay, see Safe Haven
Port Louis, see Basques Bay
— Nick, see Safe Haven
— St Pierre, see Bobbe Bay
Possession, Ceremony of taking, 70
Prestwood, Laurence, 50, 72
— B., 142, 143
Privateers, see. Biscay and Dunkerque
Privy Council and Spitsbergen, 143, 165,
175, 177, 183
Pym, Mr, Member of Parliament, 177
Quade Hook, Bussian hut on, 247, 261
Quast, H. Gz., 66
Babot, Monsieur Charles, 300
"Bacehorse," H.M.S., 278-283
Bain in winter in Spitsbergen, 237
Bape seed, the price of, 208, 212
Eaven, Dirck Albertsz., of Hoorn, his
Journal, 137, 185
"Becherche, La," French cruiser, visits
to Spitsbergen, 299, 300
Index
375
Recherche Bay (Joseph Bay, Schoonhoven,
Ice Bay)', 56, 58, 89, 125,
126, 142, 149-164, 192,
198, 225, 299, see also
Bell Sound
Russian huts in, 260, 264,
283
becomes the chief English
settlement in 1621, 128
Red Beach, 50, 69, 71, 73, 174, 293, 298
Redbeach Point, 279
Red-cliff Sound, Red Bay, or Monier
Bay, 13, 69, 71, 73,
76, 173
Russian huts in, 246,
261, 276
Refuge Francais, see Basques Bay
Reindeer as draught animals, 2j3
brought home alive, 63, 207
hunted, 54, 56, 148, 150, 174,
200, 231, 235, 241, 256, 269,
271, 280, 289, 298
— killed as a sacrifice, 4
Rep, Captain Outger, 230
Richelieu, Cardinal, patron of whalers,
167
Riemsdyk, Jhr. B. W. F. van, 211
Rimbow Point, 276
Robbe Bay occupied by Danes and Basques,
136, 166, 167, 170, 289
Russian huts in, 261
Rochester, Lord, 61
Roos, Cape, Russian hut on, 261
Ross, Lieut., 293, 294, 295
Ross Island, 297
Rotge or Roche Hill in Magdalena Bay,
Attempts to climb, 232, 288
Rotterdam, Train-oil cookeries at, 188
Rotterdam whalers, 65, 106, 109, 136,
194
Royal Society's Enquiries about Spits-
bergen, 203, 214, 277, 278, 292
Russekeilen in Green Harbour, 260
Russell, Captain John, 48
Russia Company, see Muscovy Company
Russian Government settlement in Bell
Sound, 264
Russian sailors, Adventures of four,
1743-1749, 234-237
Russian trappers in Spitsbergen, 226,
233-276
beginning of the in-
dustry, 233
their deaths, 244, 259
huts in Spitsbergen,
233, 2? 8, 240, 246-
253, 259-261, 264-
270, 294
— organisation of their
industry, 239-243,
254, 255-259, 267
how paid, 238
Ryk Yse Islands, 103, 186, 207, 208
Ryp, Jan Cz., accompanies Barents in
1596, 11, disputes with Barents, 15,
carries home survivors of Barents' crew,
17
Ryss Islands, Russian hut on, 261, 276
Sabine, Sir Edward, 290, 291
Saddle, the, see Cloven Cliff
Safe Haven, 36, 57, 58, 95, 175
St Jean de Luz sacked by Spaniards, 183
— whalers, 53, 57, 58, 59,
62, 131
St John's Bay, see Osborne Inlet
St Lawrence, Whaling off the mouth of
the, 41
St Lawrence Bay, see Red-cliff Sound
Salaet Hills on Amsterdam Island, 174
Sallowes, Allen, 4'.), 53, 63
Salmon, Captain, 111-121, 126, 128
San Sebastian whalers, 49, 53, 57, 62
Saute, G. Van, his records of the whale-
fishery, 223
Sardam (Van Keulen) Bay, 33, 37, 58,
260
Schoonhoven (Recherche Bay), 58, 89
Schrobop, J. Jz., 91
Scientific Exploration of Spitsbergen,
298
Scoresby, William, 247, 248, 259, 261,
268, 283-287
Scotch Patent for Spitsbergen whaling,
105, 142, 144, 145, 175
Scurvy, 241-248, 252, 265, 266, 272, 275,
276
Scurvy grass, 174, 179, 236
Seal-hunting, 266, 269
Settlement in 1619 between English and
Dutch as to Spitsbergen whaling, 122,
124
Seven Icebergs, Expeditions on, 200
Seven Islands, the, 139, 207, 214, 229,
281, 294
Sherwin, Thomas, 66, 109, 112, 115
Shetlands, Rendezvous of the Dutch fleet
at the, 66
Sinclair, Sir Andrew, 105
Sledging on the ice-pack, 291, 295, 296
Smeerenburg, site appropriated in 1614,
69
founded, 95
— Buildings at, 133, 136, 137,
168, 172-174, 178, 180,
186, 189, 231
— Danes at, 124, 131, 132,
136, 166
Fort at, 136, 137 note,
173
Frequentation of, 124, 127,
182, 186, 187, 213, 216
Manner of life at, 135-138,
186
Monument to Dutch whalers
set up at, 179
37^
Index
Smeerenburg, Decline of, 187-190
Smith, Sir Thomas, Governor of the
Muscovy Company, 33, 61, 102, 119
Smith Bay, Sir Thomas (Foreland Sound),
44, 54, 57, 58, 62, 63, 67,
84, 107, 111-121, 125, 128,
132, 138, 146, 192, 198, 199
Huts at, 125, 138
Smith Inlet, Sir Thomas (Wijde Bay),
72, 207
Smith Islands, Sir Thomas, 102
Smith Land, Sir Thomas (North East
Laud), 104, 188, 207
Russian huts on. 261
circumnavigated, 229, 230
Soap Patent obtained by Sir J. Bour-
chier, 140
of 1631 for a new process,
184
Soap-making, 139, 144, 165, 178, 184
the " Sopers of West-
minster," 183, 184
Soccoa sacked by Spaniards, 183
Solovetskoy on the White Sea, Convent
of, and its relation to the Russian
trappers, 239, 262, 273
Sorge Bay, see Treurenberg Bay
South Cape, Russian huts at the, 250,
259, 268, 269, 274
South Gat, see Fairhaven (south harbour)
Spitsbergen circumnavigated, 230, 231
discovered, 12
named, 14
Stans Foreland, see Stone Foreland
Staraschtchin, the Russian trapper, 260,
272
Mount, 29
Stavoren whalers, 172
Stone Foreland, 102
Strowd, George, 127
Stuer, Captain, 270, 271
Swedish whalers, 226
Tabin, Cape, 139
Tas, William, 138
"Tents" of the whalers on Spitsbergen,
68, 85, 136, 151, 206
Thousand Islands, the, 79, 208, 240,
250, 274
"Tiger," the armed ship, 52, 57, 58, 59,
61, 63
Tobiesen, Captain, sights Giles Land, 230
Tollens' poem on Barents' 3rd voyage, 18
Torrell, Dr, 299
Train-oil smuggled into England, 127,
140, 144, 184, 202
— Uses of, 139, 178
"Trent," H.M.S., 268, 288
Treurenberg Bay, 207, 217, 220, 223,
294, 295, 297, 298
Fi^ht in, between
French and Dutch,
220-222
Trinity Harbour, 70
Trinity Island, see Jan Mayen Island
Troubles at Spitsbergen in 1613, 51
— 1617, 94-104
— 1618, 106-122
Tschitschagof, Captain, his Arctic Ex-
peditions, 263-265, 283
Tusk Bay, see Magdalena Bay
Unicorn Bay, 207
Unicorn's horn, see Narwhal
Van der Brugge, 136, 172-175
Van Keulen, Gerard, map publisher, 229,
230
Van Keulen Bay, see Sardam Bay
Van Keulen Cove, 37, 59
Van Linschoten's voyages, 10
Van Muijden (or Muijen), Captain
Willem, 49, 52, 53, 57, 59, 60
Van Muijen (or Muijden) Haven, or
Bottle Cove, 58, 142, 143
Varden, James, 82
Veere whalers, 94, 136
Verelle, Captain Jan, 94-100
Verlegen Hook, see Castlins Point
Virgo Bay, see Houcker Bay
Vogelhoek or Fair Foreland, 22, 25, 34,
55, 57
— named, 15
Vogelsang Island, 13, 67, 71, 279, 289
Vrolicq, Jean, 79, 166, 167, 170, 171, 187
Walden, Midshipman, 282
Walden Island, 272, 282, 291, 294, 295, 297
Walrus brought home alive, 30
Walrus hunting, 21, 35, 45, 46, 61, 90,
101, 231, 238, 260, 269, 272
Warner, Richard, of Hull, 131, 194
Wars, Effect of,, on the whale-fishery,
191, 193, 194, 199, 201, 208, 215, 217,
218, 225
Waygats, see Hinlopen Strait
Wedrlel, John, alias Duke, 95
Welcome Point (Biscayers Hook), 69, 72,
73, 76, 83, 84
Russian hut on, 261, 276
Whale, the first killed in Spitsbergen, 48
Whalebone, 38
picked up, 34, 36, 37, 71
Osborne's invention with, 140
Whale-fishery in Spitsbergen bays, 43, 44,
48, 51 et seq., 55 et seq.,
85-89, 135, 163, 186-188,
196, 203-206
Decline of the Dutch, 232
Decline of the English,
200, 203, 212, 225
the Dutch, lists and sta-
tistics of, 223, 224, 226
— Negotiations about, 82, 105,
122, 133, 138, 141, 167,
168, 171, 193-199
Index
377
Whale fishing in the open sea, 183, 185,
186, 191, 198, 200
Whale Head in Bell Sound, 142, 143
Whales Point (Edge Island), Kussian
huts at, 238, 246, 250-253
Whales, habits of, 147, 196, 214, 227
— kinds of, 38
— multitude observed near Spits-
bergen, 25, 30, 35, 37
— frightened away from Spits-
bergen coast, 125, 186-188, 200
— stranded, 39
— White, 212, 234, 255, 257, 260,
272
Whales Bay (King's Bay), 25, 26, 28,
44, 45, 66
— Point in Edge Island, 78, 208
Whaling, Early history of, 40
Whitby whalers, 247, 284
White Island, see Giles Land
— Sea Fishing Company, 239
— Sea trade, 7, 8, 9, 17, 20, 274,
and see Russian trappers
Whitwell, a Hull whaling adventurer,
194, 199, 202
Wiche, Richard, 104
Wiche Islands, 101, 104
Wiche Sound (Liefde Bay), 71, 72, 207
frequented by Russian
trappers, 26l
Wilkinson, Thomas, 175
Willoughbv's Expedition in 1553, 6, 83,
102
Winter night in Spitsbergen, 157, 174
Wintering, the first, in Spitsbergen,
146-164
— at Smeerenburg, 170, 172-
175, 178, 179
Winterings by Norwegian hunters, 272,
273, 274
Winterings by Russian trappers, 235,
241, 246, 247, 255, 256, 264, 265, 266,
268, 269, 272, 274, 276
Witt, Admiral De, escorts the Dutch
whaling fleet, 199
Woodcock, Nicholas, 33, 43, 46, 49, 112
Worcester Point, Lord, 98
Wrecks, 45, 46, 130, 185, 193, 208, 215,
217, 266, 275
Wright, Nathaniel, 145, 165, 166
— enlists Biscay whalers,
42
Wybe Jans Water, 101, 103, 172, 230,
250, 259
Wybe Jansz. of Stavoren, 172
Wyde Bay (Sir Thomas Smith Inlet),
72, 73, 295
Russian hut in, 253, 261,
274
Yarmouth whalers, 144, 145, 175, 177,
192, 194
York soap-makers, 142, 143, 185, 192
Ys, Cornells Pz., 131, 133, 170
Ys, William, 129
Zaandam Bay, see Sardam Bay
whalers and walrus hunters,
52, 58, 62, 65, 136, 137, 183,
186, 224, 225
— Sham whale-fishing at, for
Peter the Great, 227
Zeeland Bay, see Fowl Bay
— whalers, 94, 96-101, 105, 112-
120, 138, 289
Zeeusche Uytkyk, 94, 188, 227, 279, 289
Ziegler Island, a whalers' settlement, 208
— Russian huts on, 240, 259
Zorgdrager, C. G., 91, 92, 129, 135, 147,
173, 182, 188, 214, 225, 227, 228, 234
CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL WORKS BY THE
SAME AUTHOR.
Climbers' Guide to the Pennine Alps, 2 vols., London, 1890,
1891, and other Alpine Climbers' Guides.
Climbing and Exploration in the Karakoram-Himalayas ;
London, 1894.
The Alps from End to End; London, 1895.
The First Crossing of Spitsbergen ; London, 1896.
With Ski and Sledge over Arctic Glaciers; London, 1898.
The Bolivian Andes; London, 1901.
Aconcagua and Tierra del Puego; London, 1902.
The Alps; London, 1904.
Early Dutch and English Voyages to Spitsbergen ; London
(Hakluyt Society), 1904.
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CARDS OR SLIPS PROM THIS POCKET
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